Senior leaders need to deal with current issues, but probably their most important task is to lead their organization into the future. As part of their future focus, senior leaders need to prepare for their next assignment. The preparation for future assignments is not for self-serving purposes. Instead, it is based on the fundamental issue of what professional development needs to occur now to be ready to better serve the Corps and the Army in the future. In this regard, engineers need to pursue joint assignments.
Some people avoid joint assignments.
I consider this a mistake because joint assignments will not go away. If anything, they'll probably increase. I can't imagine the Corps or the Army ever executing an operation that is not at least joint and probably combined. Senior leaders also must know how to harness available and emerging technology and know how to leverage technology to increase efficiency and effectiveness. We live in a world which produces reams of instant data.