Everyone has a unique mix of strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies that they bring to the workplace. But because we’re so entrenched in our own personalities and tendencies, it can be challenging to identify our positive traits and areas of improvement on our own.
Many women in engineering have found leadership assessments to be an important tool to gain self-awareness around how they show up at work. By answering the questions in these assessments and reviewing the results with experts, professionals can gain greater insight into their personalities, relationships, blind spots, and leadership gaps.
Examples of popular leadership assessments for engineers include:
- The Myers Briggs type indicator
- The Enneagram test
- The Fundamental Interpersonal Relations Orientation-Behavior (FIRO-B) Assessment
- CliftonStrengths Assessment
- The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) Leadership Competency Model
In SWE’s three-day eXXec program, mid- and late-career professionals in engineering and technology use the FIRO-B Assessment to identify their interpersonal needs and understand how these needs influence their behaviors and communication styles.
By discovering their own results and acknowledging that different people have different needs, participants learn how to improve their communication skills and build stronger relationships at work.

Dr. Kim Warren-Martin (she/her/hers), the facilitator of eXXec, speaks to the power of assessments and interpreting the results in a supportive group environment on episode 234 of Diverse: a SWE podcast.
Dr. Warren-Martin is an award-winning executive with a solid reputation in corporate diversity and inclusion.
During the last eight years of her 27-year corporate career, she ran a global women’s initiative helping women get to the top of a Fortune 50 technology company.
Join Us for SWE’s eXXec Executive Leadership Program
eXXec is SWE’s three-day executive leadership program for mid- to senior-level professionals who aspire to executive status. Here is an overview of how each day of eXXec helps women engineers amplify their leadership skills:
eXXec Day 1: Leading Self

On the first day of eXXec, engineers dive into their FIRO-B assessment results and gain self-awareness around their behaviors, strengths, motives, and areas where additional coaching is needed.
This day of the program is led by Kathryn Mayer (she/her/hers) who brings over 25 years of expertise in leadership development, conducting workshops, and coaching executives, focusing on empowering women in competitive industries.
Drawing from her background as a former top-ranked amateur tennis player and extensive experience driving change and nurturing talent in corporate environments — including roles at Goldman Sachs, Deloitte, and Citigroup’s investment bank — she offers a unique perspective on leadership.
eXXec Day 2: Leading People

On the second day of eXXec, participants step into their power as leaders of others. The activities and learning during this day help engineers work on the behaviors, tools, and actions that will help them step up as empowering and inclusive leaders of their teams.
Gloria Cotton (she/her/hers) leads this session of eXXec. Cotton is an author, life coach, strategic DEI&B executive consultant, and pro-inclusionist.
With a corporate background in human resources and organizational development and an educational foundation in psychology and education, she has worked with people and teams in organizations of all sizes (from six to more than 100,000) located in national and global locations.
eXXec Day 3: Leading Change

On the third day of eXXec, leaders dive into how to successfully implement change in the workplace. With the breakneck pace of work, facilitating change has become a key to career success.
Rose Hollister (she/her/hers) is a coach and consultant to Fortune 500 companies and has been published numerous times by the Harvard Business Review. She specializes in partnering with leaders to accelerate results, increase effectiveness, and meet emerging business challenges.
Rose has shared about eXXec and what the program is like behind the scenes on episode 60 and episode 184 of Diverse: a SWE podcast.
In the eXXec program, what starts with an insightful leadership assessment is amplified by three days of coaching, workshops, networking, and insightful conversations with other engineering leaders — all in the beautiful setting of downtown Chicago.
For organizations who want to keep pace in the ever-evolving engineering sector, eXXec helps companies develop and retain top engineering talent and strengthen an inclusive leadership pipeline.
You can learn more about eXXec from past participants in these blog posts:
- Lessons Learned From eXXec 2022
- eXXec 2021 Recap
- Learning to eXXcel at eXXec
- Photos from the eXXec program
eXXec 2024 takes place June 23-26, 2025, in Chicago. Register here to reserve your spot before the May 31 registration deadline!
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SWE Blog provides up-to-date information and news about the Society and how our members are making a difference every day. You’ll find stories about SWE members, engineering, technology, and other STEM-related topics.
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