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This episode of The Engineering Commons dives into the importance of “soft skills” to engineering professionals.

• A fictional giant from the 1984 Ghostbusters movie, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man is the chosen form of Gozer the Gozerian.
• We use the LinkedIn article “Top 5 Must-Have Soft Skills for Professional Engineers” as a framework for our conversation.
• In a 2012 article by the Association for Talent Development, titled “Engineers and Soft Skills,” the soft skills of a mechanical engineer are equated with those of a caveman.
• It is frequently noted that engineers need to improve their communication skills.
• Expectation management seems to be an important part of an engineer’s communicative duties.
• We discuss the expectations management associated with the wing loading test for Boeing’s 777 aircraft.
• Email is a common form of written communication for engineers.
• Among the members of our discussion group, nobody seems to be a heavy user of instant messaging applications.
• A 2004 article in IEEE Spectrum notes that “engineers are often accused of being uncreative.”
• As noted in the Harvard Business Review, it can be the case that “Managers Don’t Really Want to Innovate.”
• The NSPE’s definition of leadership is evaluated.
• Jeff recalls a recent television story about people being “lucky.”

Thanks to Nicholas Smale for use of the photo titled “Ghostbusters Piggybank.” Opening music by John Trimble, and concluding theme by Paul Stevenson.