The Engineering Leader

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Every Thursday I share practical Engineering Leadership insights in a FREE newsletter. The Engineering Leader aims to help Engineers become exceptional leaders through practical insights, proven frameworks, and real-world experience from high-consequence Engineering environments. These can be easily implemented to help you continue your life-long leadership journey.

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Past Issues

#117 - The three Engineering Leadership transitions!

6 Aug 26 Trial Brief Every Engineer who rises through the ranks eventually discovers the same uncomfortable truth. The skills that got you promoted are not the skills the next role requires. You don't fail because you stop being good at Engineering. Rather you fail because you keep trying to lead...

by Steve Strange — Aug 06, 2026 newsletter

#116 - Leave means leave!

24 Jun 26 One of the hardest transitions in professional life is moving on from a role where you have built credibility, influence, relationships and expertise. It can be tempting to keep a connection to your previous position; stepping back in to advise, solve problems, provide reassurance or be...

by Steve Strange — Jun 25, 2026 newsletter

#115 - Team-building!

17 Jun 26 It is clear that leadership development includes the ability to make decisions and also to communicate and influence. The best decisions mean little if the wrong people are in the room. Communication falls flat when trust is absent and influence becomes difficult when relationships are ...

by Steve Strange — Jun 18, 2026 newsletter

#114 - Communication and Influence!

10 Jun 26 Leadership is not about having the best ideas. It is about ensuring those ideas are understood, accepted and acted upon. Communication and influence are among the most critical skills a leader can develop. No matter how technically competent, strategically aware, or operationally experi...

by Steve Strange — Jun 11, 2026 newsletter

#113 - Decision-making!

3 Jun 26 Leadership can be distilled into three core skills: Decision-making, Communication and influence, Team-building. These skills underpin a leader's ability to deliver results through others. While all three are essential, decision-making sits at the heart of leadership. Every strategy, a...

by Steve Strange — Jun 05, 2026 newsletter

#112 - Transformation leadership without fear!

27 May 26 Driving meaningful change as a leader is rarely comfortable. Raising standards, increasing urgency, and challenging complacency will inevitably create friction. The danger is that intensity, if poorly channelled, can quickly be perceived as aggression, over-bearing behaviour or bullying...

by Steve Strange — May 28, 2026 newsletter

#111 - Pull closer not push away!

20 May 26 Disaffected team members are often managed incorrectly. Many leaders instinctively create distance by reducing involvement, limiting responsibility, and excluding disengaged individuals from the core of the team. While this may feel like protecting performance or morale, it often deepen...

by Steve Strange — May 20, 2026 newsletter

#110 - Perseverance, tenacity and resilience!

13 May 26 Success and personal growth are rarely achieved without challenge. Difficulties, setbacks, delays and unexpected obstacles are a natural part of progress. This edition of the Springboard Spotlight! focuses on three important qualities that help people continue moving forward during diff...

by Steve Strange — May 16, 2026 newsletter

#109 - Are you creating clarity or chaos?

6 May 26 Most leaders don’t set out to create chaos but it can happen quietly. A missed meeting here, an off-the-cuff decision there, perhaps a quick side conversation to 'speed things up.' Individually, these feel harmless, even efficient. Collectively, they create fragmentation. Before long, st...

by Steve Strange — May 06, 2026 newsletter

#108 - Reset - before you're forced to!

29 Apr 26 Most leaders understand the importance of performance. Fewer truly prioritise recovery. The default approach is to keep going, push harder, work longer and absorb more until something eventually forces a stop. Often in the form of stress, burnout or illness. But there is a better way......

by Steve Strange — May 01, 2026 newsletter

#107 - 'Don't do as I do...do as I say!'

22 Apr 26 There’s a subtle shift that can happen as leaders become more senior. With experience comes confidence and with authority comes influence. Sometimes, with both, comes a quiet belief: 'The rules no longer apply to me in quite the same way.' It rarely starts as arrogance. More often, it s...

by Steve Strange — Apr 22, 2026 newsletter

#106 - Playing the long game!

15 Apr 26 In periods of volatility, the instinct is to act fast and decisively. But the more strategic move is often just to exercise restraint. As China carefully balances its relationships with Iran and the United States during the present Gulf conflict, it demonstrates a powerful principle: no...

by Steve Strange — Apr 16, 2026 newsletter

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