Career Development = Leadership Growth

As your academic career advances, you will be expected to strengthen your impact in research, education, and society. Delivering meaningful impact, in turn, requires the ability to collaborate with others and to influence them to achieve a common goal. In this session, we explore what it means to be a leader in academia, and how leadership growth and career development can go hand in hand.

Slides presented at the New Faculty Symposium of the conference on Automated Software Engineering, held in Munich, October 2026

https://conf.researchr.org/details/ase-2026/ase-2026-new-faculty-symposium/5/Career-development-and-leadership-growth

Transcript

1. Career Development = Leadership Growth Arie van Deursen Delft University of Technology Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750), Alte Pinokathek, Munich (2025) 1
2. Opening Questions • What are your experiences in leadership? ▪ What are you proud of? ▪ What do you wish you had done better? • What are your ambitions in leadership? • What makes you a good leader? • How can you compensate / mitigate your weaker points? 2
3. TU Delft “Leadership Profile” Leadership roles Leadership components • Personal leadership • Ownership and collaboration • Leading a project or team • Vision and strategy • Leading an organization • Self-awareness and situational awareness • Leading a program or multiple teams • Trust and integrity • Attracting and encouraging talent • Initiative and courage 3
4. Our Shared Ambitions • Push the boundaries of what we know about software engineering • Guide societal digitalization efforts with better software engineering • Give next generation of engineers an education preparing them for the future 4
5. Personal Leadership • Know yourself (“self awareness”): ▪ What is giving you energy, what are your ambitions? ▪ What are your boundaries / limitations (working hours, work-life balance, topics, collaboration forms, …) • Know your environment (“situational awareness”) • Find your own way to be a “professional”: ▪ Be a reliable partner to others: ▪ Take ownership; deliver what you promise ▪ Practice self-reflection, to learn and grow 5
6. Leading a Team or Project • Team culture & spirit • Helping each other • Inclusion • Direction • Transparency • Sensitive • Empathic • Encourage team members to take ownership • If you’re the leader, the team expects you to take it • Team / project needs to produce results • Provide role clarity • Diversity brings resilience 6
7. Leading an Organization Head of Department Lessons Learned • 2016-2023, 250 fte • Think beyond your dept • Doubled students, staff, … • Understand problems / needs / wishes of +1, +2 levels • Educational programs for 2500 BSc/MSc CS students • Hired multiple profs / year • Continuous evaluation process of faculty members • Focus on people growth: • “transformational” leadership • Think strategically • Find the “win-win” 7
8. Leading a Program / Multiple Teams Industry Labs Enablers • Five year programs • Think strategically • 5-10 PhD students • See fit with bigger context • Industry funded • Your value is bigger than the “research increment” / paper • TU Delft sw. eng.: • Ongoing labs with JetBrains, Meta, ING Bank • Research + talent • Industry loves your students • Articulate the win-win 8
9. Leading Change 1. Create a sense of urgency 2. Build a guiding coalition 3. Form a strategic vision 4. Enlist a volunteer army 5. Enable action by removing barriers 6. Generate short-term wins 7. Sustain acceleration 8. Institute change John Kotter, Leading Change. https://www.kotterinc.com/methodology/8-steps/ 9
10. Seven Habits 1. Be pro-active 2. Begin with the end in mind 3. Put first things first 4. Think win-win 5. Seek first to understand; then to be understood 6. Synergize 7. Sharpen the saw 10
11. The AI Revolution AI is disrupting every aspect of academic software engineering • The subject itself, paper writing, conducting experiments, paper reviewing, student assessment, teaching, societal impact, … • Is it all … collapsing? • There is a lot of uncertainty now • Approach this as an opportunity: ▪ You are the generation to shape this revolution ▪ Reinvent ourselves and get rid of limiting structures of the past ▪ Find allies to lead the community through the change 11
12. TU Delft SE is … Hiring! • Vacancy for assistant professor in software engineering • Faculty member in the Software Engineering Research Group • All SE research topics welcome • Work with great colleagues, students, and industry partners • Apply before November 1! https://careers.tudelft.nl/job/Delft-Assistant-Professor-in-Computer-Science-2628-CD/1371842257/ 12
13. Long COVID Fund Raiser • October 18 I’m running the Amsterdam marathon • I’m raising funds to support research on Long COVID treatment. Target: €100/km • Please support me! https://supporta.com/htg9/6mynzkh7vh 13
14. Your Growth • Strengthen your impact: work with others • Envision where you’re heading • Help others grow • Identify the win-win • See the big picture • Know yourself Rembrandt, self-portrait, Alte Pinakothek, Munich 14