For many of us, planning begins by examining what we are working on, thinking about next steps, and maybe imagining an unanswered question from the…
Author: Christopher Edwards
Grooming the Research Scientist as the PI’s COO
Posted in Administration, Leadership, and Productivity
If your lab has more than 5-6 people, you are probably missing a very important person. Given the growth in administrative, managerial and financial responsibilities…
Why Are Your Lab Members So Slow?
Posted in Leadership, and Productivity
One of the hardest problems that PIs contend with is the lab member who is inexplicably slow. Experiments don’t seem to get done at all,…
A number of my clients are now going through the process of promotion or tenure evaluation. None of these faculty understand the specifics about the…
Why Scientific Training Urgently Needs Reform
Posted in Biotech, Careers, Education, and Scientists
PhD degrees were originally granted to train students to conduct research in a specific field of study. Postdoctoral fellowships were instituted to help the PhD…
Is Your Lab Filled with Students or Scholars?
Posted in Careers, Leadership, Productivity, and Scientists
If you are the PI of a research lab, you probably have one or more people in your lab who want to be PIs but…
Cognitive Bias: A Follow-Up
Posted in Leadership, Productivity, and Scientists
My last post described the problem of cognitive bias on a personal level, especially with respect to self-esteem issues that can be countered with cognitive…
For Better Decisions, Counter Cognitive Bias
Posted in Leadership, Productivity, and Scientists
In my last post, I encouraged scientists to trust their gut instincts more when making certain types of decisions, for example those involving leading and…
When I was speaking about leadership virtues to a group of junior researchers at a leading pharma company, audience members raised examples of eminent scientists…