Showing posts with label advice. Show all posts
Showing posts with label advice. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

...and now for Something Completely Different

I've been mulling over a version of this post for far too long, so here goes:

It's time to make some changes around here.

As I've quipped before, all careers in chemistry eventually leave the lab. Nearly gone are the days of the frizzy white-haired scientist holding aloft the shimmering vial and shouting "Eureka!"

Today, we often find ourselves in transition: Post-docs become professors, who write papers and manage a group. Bench chemists move into operations or regulatory roles. Technicians re-train and become patent clerks. Even med-chem project leaders eventually hire enough people that they think project strategy and logistics far more than they shake sep funnels or run TLCs.

Adapting to change can be ruff.

And so it is with me -- I find myself at a career inflection point. My Twitter handle reads: one foot in, one foot out. Ever wondered what I meant? It means I'm no longer your friendly "workaday synthetic chemist." I'm still in a role where I think about chemistry daily, and I apply my skills to solve problems. . . I just don't run reactions with my own two (gloved) hands.

At this juncture, one feels a complex mixture of emotions, to be sure:

Excitement, to learn new things and travel more frequently.
Embarrassment, that I've been blogging about chemistry and yet haven't touched a rinse bottle of acetone in months!
Fear, that I won't be as good at this new venture as (I thought) I was at synthesis.
Resolve, that I'm going to buck up and do my best, despite my nerves.

So, gentle readers, please bear with me. I'm going to probably shift away from lab stories and synthetic methods, and try to return to the theme of my very first post:
"This blog will reach out to the wider world about science, and especially chemistry."
I may write more stream-of-consciousness posts about navigating complex organizations, managing expectations and people, and thinking strategically. I may say "vision" or "collaborative."
[Oh great, thinks half my audience, he's really drinking the corporate Kool-Aid now!]

Fine - I'll also still write about chemistry. When something really awesome catches my eye : )

Thanks again, as always,
See Arr Oh

--
I admire and applaud all who made it to the end of this short chautauqua. If you'd like to leave any kind advice on steering one's blog in a new direction, comments are open!

Sunday, May 26, 2013

A Poste-docke Limerick

(This post was written as part of the BRSM Blog Party. For more worldly wisdom, check out Jess's entry, Stu's, Vittorio's, and Freda's...)

There once was a chap from the UK,
Who wanted to study in Ussay.
He said "I know what,
I'll get scuttlebutt,
And figure out how to be OK."

His mates on thine Twitter doth proclaim,
That the Yankee chem kids are most profane.
They 'colour' incorrectly,
Forget 'football' and 'high tea,'
Those Yanks just love coffee and ballgames.

Dollars - not pounds - will buy groceries,
Pounds - and not stone - for the weights, please.
In lab, we know grams,
Kilos and drams,
But don't order 'litres' of gas, geez!

Driving's best done on the right,
Try not to run the red lights.
I'd recommend bussing,
But I'm not quite trusting,
No double-deckers in sight.

Remember your relative youth,
You're prob'ly much further in truth.
Our 'Docs' start too late,
Feel put off and irate,
Student loans and long programs are uncouth.

Keep your head down and do good work,
Take on new skills and avoid jerks.
Get a paper or two,
Make some new friends to boot,
And never say no to some pub perks.

Good luck, B.R.S.M. Come see us sometime, we'll buy you a pint.

Monday, March 25, 2013

Hawker's Talk Secrets

"My Chemical Romance Calls it Quits"
"My Chemical Romance, In Memoriam"
"My Chemical Romance Break Up"

Never fear, dear readers: My 'chemical romance' continues unabated...[rimshot]

At the risk of sounding like a lounge act, I realize that clear communication supports good relationships. So, apparently, does Craig Hawker, an accomplished polymer scientist at UCSB. I've seen him present a few times; the man gives one hell of a talk!

This month, he shares his secrets with you courtesy of a (free!) Angewandte Chemie editorial. Building off the success of Whitesides' essay "Writing a Paper", Hawker points out a crucial difference:
"While a publication can be read again and again, a presentation is over immediately. Therefore, the rules for writing a publication differ from those for preparing a presentation."
Amen! We've all attended deadly discourse disasters: The 9AM conference sleeper. The 4PM no coffee, no snack, sotto voce speaker with tiny font. The don't-stop-for-questions local section dinner meeting. All tragic wastes of opportunity.

"Chemistry? Chemistry? Chemistry? Chemistry?"
Source: Ferris Bueller's Day Off
So, how can we improve?

Hawker offers several simple pointers, divvied up into two major sections ("The Slides" and "The Talk"). For slides, he argues clarity, simplification, and increasing "signal-to-noise" improves the amount of useful information instilled in the audience.

For speech, Hawker advocates skills that would play well in any concert hall: Practice. Engage with the audience, which includes eye contact and interaction. Project confidence. Modulate your voice, and know when to make use of silence.

Most importantly, argues Hawker, we must solicit active feedback. Like late NYC mayor Ed Koch, ask your audience "How'm I doin'?" An honest answer here may sting, but will help you to improve for next time.