2016 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This paper explains an autobiographical exercise that helps engineering students build self-awareness of their distinctive leadership strengths and aspirations. Originally based on the theoretical work associated with the Reflected Best-Self (Roberts, Dutton, Spreitzer, Heaphy, and Quinn 2005) and life narratives (Ligon, Hunter, and Mumford 2008), this semester-long assignment enables students to use qualitative and quantitative methods to discover and articulate their unique capabilities, values, defining life experiences, and other core elements of their identity. We often think of college as being one of the most formative periods of someone’s life. Yet many students may graduate from college without ever spending time addressing questions that are central to forming a confident sense of self - “Who am I”, “What do I stand for, “Who do I want to become”, and why. These kinds of questions are rarely addressed in typical college courses and probably never addressed in engineering courses. We know from research that these types of questions are not only important for adult development, but they are especially important to leader development (Day, Harrison, and Halpin 2009; Ibarra, Snook, and Ramo 2010).
The autobiographical exercise described in this paper is based on several streams of research, as well as ten years of application and use in my leadership courses. I have used it with graduate, undergraduate, and executive students in both engineering and non-engineering contexts.
In this conference paper and presentation, I explain the methods through which students gather the qualitative and quantitative data needed for the exercise, how students analyze and summarize this data, how they reflect on life experiences to contextualize the data and draw key insights, and how students can synthesize the insights into an autobiographical narrative that ties the whole exercise together. Finally, I explain how students can use the insights from this exercise for future developmental and leadership purposes.
The course paper that culminates from this exercise is one that many students have reported as being one of the most powerful development experiences that they have ever had. In the ASEE paper and presentation, I will share how I situate this assignment in the context of a larger engineering leadership course, as well as recommendations on overcoming some of the difficult challenges that often arise in implementing and grading the assignment.

References
David V. Day, Michelle M. Harrison, and Stanley M. Halpin (2009) An integrative approach to leader development: Connecting adult development, identity, and expertise. New York: Routledge.
Herminia Ibarra, Scott Snook, and Laura Guillen Ramo (2010) "Identity-Based Leader Development." Chap. 22 in Handbook of Leadership Theory and Practice, edited by Nitin Nohria and Rakesh Khurana, 657–678. Harvard Business Press.
Gina Ligon, Samuel Hunter, and Michael Mumford (2008) Development of outstanding leadership: A life narrative approach, Leadership Quarterly, Vol. 19, pp. 312-334.
Laura Morgan Roberts, Jane E. Dutton, Gretchen M. Spreitzer, Emily D. Heaphy, Robert E. Quinn (2005) Composing the Reflected Best-Self portrait: building pathways for becoming extraordinary in work organizations, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 30, pp. 712-736.