4 Steps to Leadership for Young Professionals


Jason Kent


Featured Guest Blogger: Jason Kent, P.E.

“I want to be a leader, but I’m so new here.”

Many young professionals find it frustrating to feel that they can’t lead or advance because of their youth or short tenure in their organization. The qualities of being relatively young or new to an organization may be obstacles to leadership, but they certainly do not prevent a young professional from being a leader.

There are four easy steps you can follow to cultivate and exercise your leadership skills without having positional power. Do a few of these, and you are well on your way to being a leader. [Read more...]

Managers: Do You Care About Your Employees?

Anthony Fasano

From my experience in the engineering industry, and really the corporate environment in general, I realized that there are two types of managers, I refer to them as managers and LEADERS.  There are leaders who care about their co-workers and staff and there are managers who really don’t.  Let me explain further.

The leaders, who care about their staff, take the time to express gratitude for the things that their staff does for the company as often as possible.  They encourage continuous learning and career development.  They go out of their way to be a mentor not just a “manager.”  These people are generally very well respected by their staff and others, and their leadership fosters a real TEAM mentality.  Their team always seems to be totally engaged and WANTS to work for them.  Conflict within their department is usually rare or non-existent.

On the other hand, there are managers who often care only about themselves and the bottom line of the company.  Managers say the words ‘Thank You,’ once a week if their employees are lucky.  They fail to recognize when their employees go the extra mile, causing a feeling of under-appreciation to permeate through their department.  They are constantly putting themselves before the team.  They fail to delegate or give their staff opportunities to broaden their horizons, usually due to lack of trust.  When one of their staff deserves a raise or promotion, whether the manager thinks they do or not, they fail to “go to bat” for their employee within the company, again thinking how it might affect them. [Read more...]

How do You Define a Leader?

Leadership is a very popular conversation topic these days, especially in the corporate world.  What is a leader?  Through research and experience I have found one of the best definitions of a leader as defined by Bruce D Schneider in his book Energy Leadership.

Bruce defines leadership as how you interact with everyone, including yourself.  Leaders are quite visible within small and large businesses.  We tend to think of them as business owners, CEO’s, and managers at all levels.  Traditionally, leadership also extends into politics and other global affairs.  However, parents, therapists and health care providers, solopreneurs, sports coaches, consultants, mentors, partners in relationship, teachers, authors, and others who interact with people on a regular basis are all leaders.  Everyone is a leader either by choice or by default.  If you don’t think of yourself as a leader, then you’re limited in your thinking.  Leading is the way we help people into action, including ourselves.  The question is not whether you are a leader, but how well you lead. [Read more...]