by Joe Pimbley, Columnist & Featured Contributor
[su_dropcap style=”flat”]D[/su_dropcap]O THE LESSONS OF YEARS OF DOCTORAL RESEARCH in theoretical physics hold any value at all for life in the real world? Absolutely! I describe here some particularly inspiring personal and work habits of my thesis advisor (Professor Toh-Ming Lu of the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a terrific mentor!). In the thirty years since I wrote my thesis and received my degree, I’ve applied my advisor’s teachings in industry, academia, Wall Street and small businesses. The value is universal!
Draw a picture and tell a story
Early in our relationship, my advisor asked me to prepare slides for an upcoming conference lecture we would give. In those pre-PowerPoint days, these were actual slides! No problem, I felt highly confident (that is, over-confident) in my skill in lecture preparation. I had no difficulty filling ten slides top-to-bottom with math equations.
With just one glance at the first slide I showed, my advisor smiled and said “Joe, let’s work on this together.” Taking a clean sheet of paper, he drew a large, irregular shape resembling the object of our calculations and said “always draw a picture and tell a story to explain your work.” We did, indeed, “work together” in the sense that he taught as I learned an entirely new perspective on communication. I found the process much more enjoyable than my prior cramming of mathematics into the minimal number of slides possible.
There are two points here. First, simple sketches with lots of open space have far greater value for the audience than dense information such as math equations, crowded numbers, needlessly complex jargon, and flow diagrams with arrows in all directions. Many scientists and non-scientists have this great secret fear that they will give a public lecture and everybody will understand them. So, deliberately or subconsciously, too many speakers give greater priority to impressing their audiences with intelligence and knowledge than to communicating effectively their research or business proposals.
The second point is the story! Nature has wired our brains to process information, data, discoveries and innovations as stories. Don’t make the audience wonder what your story is. You will lose their attention and interest. Don’t let the audience create your story for you since they will not receive the message (“story”) you intend. Make the story clear and enjoyable.
Share all ideas
Paraphrasing my advisor, he declared to me “I share all my research ideas immediately with my academic friends and peers. I share everything and don’t worry that my colleagues will gain value before me from my ideas.” I loved that. This sentiment inspired me 30+ years ago and continues to inspire me today. The goal, in other words, is global progress rather than simply “personal success.”
An acquaintance of Albert Einstein once said that Einstein was the only scientist he knew who genuinely cared more for the science of a new discovery than for receiving credit himself. My advisor, Professor Lu, deserves this description as well.
An inscrutable mixture of competition and cooperation governs human relationships in life and work. We all draw our lines differently on whom we consider “friend or foe.” Choose “friend” and share ideas. Do it for the principle, but it also gives the advantage that your colleagues will choose to stay in your network and reciprocate.
Always be positive
My advisor was always positive, always smiling, always seeing opportunity rather than obstacles. In our four-year collaboration, he never growled at me for missing a deadline or bringing bad news. It’s amazing to think of it now. How can anybody be in a good mood for four years? While some people certainly do have a very fortunate predisposition to positive mood, it’s also a choice and habit one can cultivate to a significant degree.
The clear benefit of positive attitude is that other people will choose to collaborate with you and be more productive with the positive energy. Perhaps less obviously, you’ll benefit from your own positive attitude. Let’s say it differently. A positive mindset is your creation of a positive story to encompass your life and work. The positive story and your positive present reinforce each other.
Exercise judgment
There’s a saying among youth basketball coaches that “you can’t teach height.” In other words, it’s good to be tall in basketball and you either have it or you don’t. I wonder often if the same is true for “judgment.” Good judgment is critical and yet is hard to define beyond “make good decisions for projects, people and attitude.”
My advisor had excellent judgment in choosing research projects and in knowing when to adjust course mid-stream. In scientific research, it is entirely possible to choose an “impossible problem” or, at the other extreme, a solvable problem with little significance. Great scientific achievement owes more to judgment in choosing the path than to genius in overcoming the thickets on the path. Alertness and agility to jump from one path to another are also critical.
Yet this judgment that blends forethought, foresight, awareness and dexterity are precisely the traits of the outstanding entrepreneur. It’s the people in the business that create success rather than the ideas with which the business begins.
