The case study concerns an experience I had working with a group of chemical engineering students in a community engagement project abroad where we had to build and install water purification systems for a village. To make the project more organized, deadlines for specific project objectives have also been set at different intervals. However, during one of the project days, our group faced inclement weather in the morning, resulting in work not starting until the afternoon. Of course, we weren't sure if we could complete our tasks, which included laminating and cementing the walls, as well as installing the pipes and filters for the system. To make matters worse, we had to finish them before the end of the day, as we had to help the local engineers with other installation work the next day on the same water purification system and they couldn't continue until we had not completed our tasks. In our panic, we tried to rush our tasks without properly dividing our roles, which seriously affected the quality of our construction and installation work, even if it was completed. In hindsight, we could have found ways to work more efficiently. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay. This case study aims to identify which leadership orientation from Rottmann et al., Engineering Leadership, would have been best suited in this situation, as well as question how a better understanding of engineering leadership and its characteristics would have helped us as future budding engineers. It would seem quite obvious that collaborative optimization would have been most appropriate in this situation. As Rottmann et al pointed out, having an understanding of collaborative optimization could have helped us develop a very efficient work process, where all our skills and strengths could be fully utilized and exploited. In this case, the problem was a lack of direction that resulted in a poor allocation of tasks that proved ineffective because the entire operation required all aspects to be done in tandem with each other. This could have been avoided if we had done something we knew better. For example, I was more familiar with laminating and grouting walls, but found myself working on basin installation. However, in such a situation, a leader who only embodies the concept of collaborative optimization would not have been enough. As Colcleugh mentions, a catalyst-type leader would not only optimize task allocation, but could also serve as a source of motivation, potentially increasing member morale. If someone among us had stepped up to lead and exemplify these characteristics, the team might have felt a boost of motivation toward our goal of completing the build while still being able to fully optimize our efforts by performing familiar tasks such as layering walls which I was more proficient in this area. This clearly demonstrates the effectiveness of a catalytic style of engineering leadership through collaborative optimization, as it is able to motivate its members to be even more effective. In fact, collaborative optimization may be the most crucial indicator of competent engineering leadership, being the orientation most closely linked to the ideal engineering leader. As such, it would seem that the lack of collaborative optimization on the part of each of us has.