Leadership

For some time now, concern has been expressed that the public does not understand the importance of the work of civil engineers. There have been laments that we civil engineers do not receive the respect and accolades that we deserve, that we are not compensated appropriately for the service that we provide, and that public officials and political leaders do not pay attention to our advice when we give it.

And, for several years now, we civil engineers have been encouraged to become more politically active and more active in our communities. We have been encouraged to form, or become a part of political action committees, to write or call our elected representatives and express our support or displeasure with their actions, to become involved in election campaigns. We have been told that we civil engineers need to become leaders of the public we serve if we are to change society’s opinion of our value and importance.

Sadly, I do not recall one conversation, article, or other communication regarding the responsibility of leadership, especially within the framework of the Code of Ethics. I do not recall one reminder that along with power and wealth comes great responsibility.

In Republic the ancient Greek philosopher Plato muses over the most desirable characteristics of good leaders. One of the ideas that he advances is that the best leaders are those who are well qualified with respect to understanding the tasks at hand and who least desire to be the leader. Plato’s thought (with which I completely agree) is that a strong desire to be the leader makes one an inherently undesirable candidate. Why? Because if I set out to fulfill my self-driven desire to become leader, then my focus will not be on the safety, health and welfare of the public, it will be on the satisfaction of my desire to become leader! It is true, the public may benefit from my acts. But, it is also true that if I must choose between two competing options, one that provides benefit to the public and another that I believe is more beneficial to me, I will always choose the option that benefits me and the public will suffer.

There is a price to be paid by those who accept and ethically discharge the responsibilities of leadership. And, if I am to conduct my life in a way that gives authority to the Code of Ethics that I have committed to be lead by, then I must be willing to pay that price. Further, before I accept the role of leadership, I must have carefully considered the potential price to be paid and my motivation for accepting the position. If I fail to complete this careful self-examination, then I have failed to hold paramount the safety, health and welfare of the public.

Consider the Summit on the Future of Civil Engineering that was held in June 2006 where the stated purpose was to “articulate an aspirational global vision for the future of civil engineering-addressing all levels and facets of the civil engineering community…” The proceedings of this summit were published in 2007 by ASCE in a book entitled The Vision for Civil Engineering in 2025. In this book it is reported that the aspirational global vision developed as a result of the summit is: Entrusted by society to create a sustainable world and enhance the global quality of life, civil engineers serve competently, collaboratively, and ethically as:

I will be the first and loudest to admit that this is a lofty and worthwhile vision. But I believe that if the motivation for achieving it is the acquisition of personal comfort, wealth, respect, power or any other self-directed reward, then we will likely fail and the public will, indeed, pay a dear price. I believe that if we are to succeed in attaining this vision our motivation must be none other than for the benefit of the public that we serve. If we are to succeed in their attainment and remain true to the Code of Ethics, we must be willing to pay the price of leadership. We must be willing to:

It is late February as I write this essay and President Obama’s stimulus program has just been signed into law. Whether the direction being taken in this program is wise or not is a matter of opinion at this moment and only the passage of time will show who is correct and who is not. However, the one thing that seems certain is that the American civil engineering community is likely to be involved with and responsible for the spending of billions of public dollars in the execution of this program. And, one thing that 60 years of life has taught me is that very large sums of money provide very great opportunities for waste and dishonesty. The question is, will we use this current circumstance to build a relationship of trust with the public, to become known in our communities and on the projects that we complete as people of sound and unselfish judgment, team players, valuable friends? Or, will we simply take all available opportunities to garner as many projects as we are able, to do as we are told, maintain the status quo and leave it to others to set the direction and the tone for the spending of these dollars and the completion of the projects that these dollars purchase?

You, your colleagues in the civil engineering profession, and I hold the answers to these questions and the keys to the future of our way of life. How will history remember us?

Michael Garrett has more than $\mathbf{30}\mathbf{\text{years}}$ experience in the design and construction fields. He is a project structural engineer for URS Corporation in Buffalo, New York, and is presently licensed to practice in several states. He can be reached via e-mail at Mike. [email protected].