Summary

We all go to school expecting to learn the skills we need to succeed in the real world. As engineers, we probably felt  confident that  would end our degrees equipped with everything we needed to build strong careers and climb the ranks. Armed with knowledge of AutoCAD and second-order differential equations, there would be nothing we couldn’t handle.

For anyone who’s been in the workforce for any length of time knows, however, is just how far that is from the truth.

That’s why author, engineer, CTO and veteran MIT instructor Mark Herschberg wrote The Career Toolkit: Essential Skills for Success that No One Taught You. After teaching in MIT’s Undergraduate Practice Opportunities Program for nearly 20 years, combined with senior leadership experience in startups and fortune 500s, Mark learned exactly what skills engineers needed to thrive and how to teach them.In today’s episode, I interview Mark to learn more about:

• The essential skills he believes you need to succeed as an engineering leader
• Why universities don’t do a better job of teaching skills beyond the technical necessities
• What makes management so hard
• How to start leading others on the first day of your career

See the full show notes at https://www.engineeringandleadership.com/episode24

Download our free guide to leadership for engineers – Engineering Leadership 101:Practical Insights for Becoming an Engineering Leader at Any Stage https://www.engineeringandleadership.com/leadership101

Leaders are Readers Contest

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Links and resources

• Mark Herschberg on LinkedIn
• The Career Toolkit: Essential Skills for Success that No One Taught You
• Dr. Katrina Burrus and Managing Brilliant Jerks on Episode 22
• Pat Sweet on LinkedIn

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Credits

Main segment Music Urbana-Metronica (wooh-yeah mix) by spinningmerkaba featuring Morusque, Jeris, CSoul, Alex Beroza. ccmixter.org/files/jlbrock44/33345. CC Attribution (3.0).

Intro/ Outro Music – Move Like This by spinningmerkaba featuring Texas Radio Fish, Alex Beroza, and Snowflake. ccmixter.org/files/jlbrock44/33397. CC Attribution (3.0)

Mailbag keychee – driptrips – 120bpm – samplepack by keychee. ccmixter.org/files/keychee/32541. CC Attribution (3.0).