What a great time to be a structural engineer! Intriguing, record-setting projects are everywhere, and many more are on the way. The number of significant structures on the horizon for the United States alone staggers the imagination. With the U.S. population predicted to double in this century, we’ll need to build a whole new America that doubles the size of our country’s public and private facilities, and replaces and renovates our existing ones. A tremendous task!

It’s great news for structural engineers. We’re the ones who know how to design and build these facilities. But will we do the work as technicians or as leaders? The choice is entirely ours, and it will require major rethinking of our place in the hierarchy of the design and construction industries.

Visionaries and futurists call engineers, structural engineers included, the "wealth creators." They say the future of any nation—its economic stability and wellbeing—depends upon the strength of its engineering base. Engineers are the single most indispensable group needed for developing and maintaining a country’s infrastructure and standard of living. Engineering achievements uplift the human spirit!

But being strictly a technically competent engineer won’t be enough in the future. With the world’s growing dependence on engineering and technology, many of us will be tagged to become industry and societal leaders. So for structural engineers in today’s globally interrelated world to say they don’t want to get involved in industry leadership, public affairs, or politics because of being an introvert or a poor communicator is a cop out. That attitude accomplishes nothing! It’s like putting our heads in the sand and hoping others benevolent to our profession will make things right. Nothing like that ever happens in real life, so let’s not kid ourselves.

As a learned profession like medicine, law, architecture, and science, engineering behooves us to maximize its impact, contribute to our communities, and give back to our profession.

Being a technically skilled engineer—a wealth creator and protector of everyone’s standard of living—will continue to be rewarding in and of itself. But for those who also become public pacesetters and societal "movers and shakers," it will be even more exhilarating. Reaching this level, however, will require big-picture thinking and dialogue in a wide range of subjects at our highest level.

As we progress through our careers, we face two distinct paths to choose between and pursue: specialization—being a narrowly focused, technical expert; and management or leadership—being a generalist.

Whichever direction you take, to be the most effective, remember that technical competence by itself doesn’t translate into having sound judgment. Nor does it make for the most well-rounded person. And it won’t prepare you for all the dilemmas you’ll face as a prominent structural engineer and industry leader—especially in this explosive global workplace.

While serving as national president of the American Council of Engineering Companies (ACEC) a number of years ago, I represented the interests of U.S. consulting engineering firms worldwide. On many occasions in speeches to national and international audiences, I used the phrase "The world is run by those who show up," followed by the statement, "If we engineers are to truly be effective on the world’s stage, we must boldly step forward and be heard."
Since then, many engineers from around the globe have told me that those words greatly encouraged them to advance as leaders, not only in their own companies, but in their profession and in business. It also helped them influence public direction. No richer satisfaction exists than hearing that one’s words, actions, skills, or designs inspired someone else to greatness—a result that is important to strive for!

As a role model, what you do now will define our profession for the future, leaving a crucial legacy for coming generations of engineers. To accomplish this requires developing a plan that lets you hone your leadership and communications skills to the fullest. Such a plan also allows you to move out of the backrooms and up the "food chain" to where decisions are made. More than that, it permits you to tackle the bright future facing our profession as a well-rounded leader, not just as a narrowly focused technician.

All engineers, of course, need to develop their own plans for pursuing leadership. Next month, I’ll suggest a plan that is as good as any and better than most. Stay tuned!

Richard Weingardt, P.E., is CEO and chairman of Richard Weingardt Consultants, Inc., a Denver-based structural engineering firm. He can be reached via e-mail at rweingardt@gostructural.com.