More than 100 Texas A&M University engineering students spent a Saturday learning how to become better leaders during the Accenture Leadership Symposium hosted by the Student Engineers’ Council (SEC).
“The Accenture Leadership Symposium is a perfect opportunity to develop the skills necessary to succeed in leading not only at Texas A&M, but also in industry,” said Andrew West, current SEC president. “The symposium is a great opportunity for engineering students to obtain the skills that aren't necessarily taught in the classroom.”
Accenture representatives spoke to the group of engineering students about various aspects of leadership. The sessions focused on being an authentic leader, managing time and a work-life balance, assessing an individual’s social style and working with teams.
West said Accenture did a great job of organizing this event to help students better understand their leadership style and instill confidence to be more effective leaders. He said they hold the symposium in the spring to assist in the development of new leaders and their transition to leadership roles within each student organization.
The attending students were representatives from engineering student organizations including: Aggie Club of Engineers; American Institute of Chemical Engineers; American Institute of Chemical Engineers; American Society of Civil Engineers; Biomedical Engineering Society; Chemical Engineering Graduate Student Association; Chi Epsilon Civil Engineering Honor Society; Engineering World Health; Engineers Without Borders; Health Physics Society; Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers Tech; National Society of Black Engineers; Omega Chi Epsilon; Society of Asian Scientist and Engineers; Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers; Society of Petroleum Engineers; Society of Women Engineers; Student Engineers' Council; and the Tau Beta Pi National Engineering Honor Society.
Accenture hosted an inaugural symposium in spring 2015 and plans to continue to hold symposiums with the SEC and engineering students in future semesters.