Business Leadership for Engineers

During the course, we offer you a first orientation on key aspects of business leadership. We want to inspire you by connecting you to experienced alumni, and help you explore your own leadership skills in a safe learning environment. In short: we want to prepare you for your transition into the business world!

The framework for this tour comprises four mindsets:

1. Strategic lens: make the right trade-offs

2. Political lens: be ready to play power and influence

3. People lens: connect and inspire

4. Operational lens: execute and deliver

Who is 'Business Leadership for Engineers' for?

Students of science and engineering are analytical, comfortable with numbers, and tech-savvy. These strengths are key competencies for leadership positions. But leadership requires more mindsets to deal with economic mechanisms, political power processes, and social processes. These mechanisms and processes are not typically included in the curriculum of science and engineering students. Our ambition is to help you develop these additional mindsets—and become more effective technical and business leaders.

Why is leadership so important for you as an engineer?

All grand challenges of our time are technology-dominated. Whether it is the energy transition or green transport, climate action, or cybersecurity future leaders will need a thorough knowledge of technology to deal with these challenges. In our interconnected, technology-driven world, organizations heavily depend on 'leadership at all levels', meaning that leadership is not limited to those who have formal leadership positions, but that everyone is a leader. Everyone should be able to see the big strategic picture, inspire and commit others, seize business opportunities, and accept responsibility for decisions made.

Who will you learn from?

Leadership experts at TU Delft and TU Delft alumni will give several lectures. You will have the opportunity to meet CEO's and practitioners of impactful start-ups and companies. We will invite them to share their experiences with you. You can ask them your questions, learn from them, and probably, they can also learn from you as representatives of a new generation. Whether it is about the selection of cases, leadership concepts, or theories, we believe that developing these skills in an interactive environment will contribute to your personal and professional growth— and will make you better leaders of the future. The course is designed to have many components, covering a broad spectrum of learning goals. There will be sessions dedicated to exploring various dilemmas in leadership, including strategy, pricing, marketing, risk, power, and negotiation. This skill set will enable you to thrive in business settings. You will not only learn these skills by seeing but also by doing it, for example, in negotiation and pitching workshops. Alongside this, you will also be equipped with tools to refl ect upon your personal leadership style and to balance your strengths and weaknesses with your ambitions.