I write this article for fellow engineers aspiring for business leadership roles, based on my own life's experience as well as feedbacks of corporate doyens. With an engineering degree and an MBA, I rose from the factory floor to lead MNC businesses. Hence, this article integrates insights from both engineering and business leadership perspectives. It may be noted that my observations assume world class technical skills and apply to the non-technical part of an engineer's job.

Despite technical prowess, our brightest minds often plateau prematurely at the CXO level. It is our attitude — the ego, resistance to change, risk aversion and fear of failure — that hinder progress. Acknowledging the weaknesses enumerated below is key to breaking the glass ceiling.

Customer focus and market understanding: Engineers must immerse themselves in understanding customer needs and market dynamics. Reportedly, only 5 percent of engineers show interest in consumer problems thereby missing opportunities for innovation and hence, success.

Financial acumen: One of the primary objectives of businesses is to make money. Acquiring financial acumen enables engineers to understand their company's financial health and financial implications of various decisions, optimise resources, manage cash flow (the lifeblood of business) and communicate effectively.

Holistic business understanding: Engineers must develop an interest in holistic basic understanding of business to appreciate how our individual tasks and goals fit into the big picture. It is also vital for understanding business leaders' concerns and speaking their language to gain their attention and secure necessary resources. Finally, grasping the applicable regulations as well as how to manage ethically is also crucially important.

Strategic thinking: Engineers must proactively scan the environment for diverse perspectives, recognise patterns and make sense of what is going on to anticipate opportunities and challenges. We should also avoid over-analysing, decide with incomplete information, navigate internal politics and mobilise resources to overcome challenges and seize opportunities boldly.

Resourcefulness for problem-solving: Engineers must make the most of available resources to find creative ways to overcome difficulties using what they have — rather than waiting for ideal circumstances or resources.

Catalysing change: In today's dynamic business climate, clinging to outdated business models is a recipe for failure. However, engineers tend to prioritise clarity and logic with rules-based thinking. We are risk averse and lack the courage to explore unchartered territory. We must, therefore, be adaptable to boldly challenge status quo and catalyse change by embracing ambiguity, encouraging risk-taking and learning from failure - not punishing it.

Influencing stakeholders: As engineers ascend to leadership, achieving goals through others becomes crucial. Superior influencing skills become the single most important competency. Yet, many engineers lack training in effectively influencing people, motivating teams and aligning stakeholders to garner support for resources to achieve organisational goals. Moreover, manoeuvring power dynamics, competing interests and informal alliances are key to gaining support for resource allocation to achieve departmental and organisational goals.

Collaboration & teamwork: Engineers must avoid functional silos by working cooperatively and collaborating with various teams and diverse stakeholders, fostering a sense of connection and belonging. However, our technical focus and task orientation often eclipse essential people skills. Prioritising individual success over teamwork further compromises trust. We can only succeed by overcoming these challenges.

Empathetic communication: Engineers often struggle to articulate ideas clearly, logically, concisely and tactfully due to their technical focus as well as detail orientation. We are unable to connect emotionally, recognise others' perspective and make ideas relevant and engaging with our audience. We, therefore, need to tailor our approach with strategies like storytelling, use of anecdotes, vivid examples, praise, humour and finding common ground.

In conclusion, engineers must transcend their technical expertise, embrace change and develop through deliberate practice of their business acumen, strategic thinking, influencing and interpersonal skills along with empathetic communication to unlock their full potential.

The author is former chairman and managing director of Unilever Bangladesh Ltd.