I went back reading Peter Drucker’s book on strategy and upon reread there is one thing that jumped at me: his statement that unexpected failures and successes are a key source of innovation. The reasoning behind this is quite straightforward. If you have put your best efforts in and you fail, there is a good chance you are being sent a message, which may not always be easy to decipher or swallow. Similarly, if you succeed in something you had not expected to succeed in, you are – so Drucker argues – quick to dismiss it instead of studying the circumstances that enabled the success.
When I read this, as always, my thoughts quickly shifted to how this message may apply to science and in particular my group. For example, how do we even define success in science. A high-impact paper? Hopefully not! A new cure developed? You wish. Perhaps, discoveries made and knowledge acquired? Then I realized that science is too different a world and this seemingly convincing statement by Drucker may not quite apply. Unless, of course, we take a more entrepreneurial view and focus for a moment on the shallow measures of success (papers accepted, grants funded, awards won). This might be the right level since in this case we now have a product, our science, and some quantifiable metrics of how well it is selling. Disgusted with this commercial viewpoint? I understand. But let’s think it through since such “commercial success” largely dictates how much research we care for we can actually do (at least most of us who are trapped in the career-long struggle to keep funding for our scientific vision going).
So here are some potential unexpected events of success to watch out for:

1. Seemingly average trainee succeeds big time in securing a great position for his/her next career step.
2. Great paper/grant from a collaboration that you only stayed involved in out of politeness but never quite contributed minus exchanging scheduling emails for boring phone meetings.
3. A manuscript, which was quickly put together with so little effort you feel guilty, turns into a paper in a surprisingly respectable journal.
4. You make a cynical remark in the faculty meeting to maintain your own sanity but then this remark triggers a serious discussion about the future of your department.

The more I am thinking about this, the more I realize that I have (like most of us?) dismissed such events as pure random without much further thought. All such events should help us calibrate our world view, dislodge us from entrenched thinking patterns, and open us to new and innovative perspectives.

​Take care,
 
Flavio
 

As a follow up post to yesterday's thoughts on productivity, I would like to reinforce some of the points with the focus on meetings. I have previously written about some of this stuff, but I thought a brief synthesis may be of help.

1. Do not waste your time on sending around emails to schedule a meeting. There are plenty of great tools that you can use. Personally, I like calendly.com (I have no commercial interest). That site connects directly to your calendar and let's people book appointments. You can specify what type of meetings you want to offer (my default is 20 minutes), when they can be scheduled (based on your calendar), and you can even charge for the meeting if you would like.
2. Cut the small talk to less than 2 minutes - seriously. Have a focused meeting and go and have a drink with the person in the evening if you want to chat about unrelated, personal stuff. You do not want to feel like you are working long hours but actually you spend a lot of time on non-work stuff. Being nice to each other and developing a shared identity by knowing colleagues is important, of course. So finding a balance is the key to this.
3. Make sure every meeting has a clear set of goals. If goals have not been defined by the time you meet, make sure they get agreed on first.
4. Do not agree to meetings that you already know you do not want to attend. Rather politely excuse yourself when the meeting gets planned.
5. Schedule meetings back-to-back. Having the next person walk through the door helps to keep meetings on time.
6. Keep detailed notes of the meeting. So much wasted time when people cannot remember what got discussed and decided during the last meeting.
7. Never agree to a meeting which is longer than 60 minutes, be prepared to politely wrap up and head out after 60 minutes.
8. Make sure everyone knows what their action items are and by when they need to be completed.
9. Do not provide food or drinks for meetings. This will only make the meeting longer, introduce a level of relaxation that slows everything down, and also many of us are trying to loose weight.
10. Wrap up the meeting by standing up and walking to the door (this will do it - almost always).

I hope of these strategies will make your day a bit less painful when it comes to meetings.

Take care,

Flavio

As you may know, I always enjoy thinking about how to organize my work/life in a more productive way such that my energy invested results in maximal gains in terms of advancing our science. I have recently reflected on the key elements and strategies that have consistently paid off over the last 7 (wow!) years at UNC leading the Frohlich Lab.

1. Schedule everything! Yes, I mean everything. Reading, thinking, sleeping, etc You get the idea! If you only schedule meetings, you will never have enough quiet time for the "big ticket items" you want to achieve!
   
2. Wake up early! Ancient cultures have understood this much better than we have. I have found that getting up and ready for the day well before the sunrises makes the entire day a better day. Obvious consequence: adjust your bedtime.
3. Write down your goals and measure your progress towards reaching them! See also my post on balanced scorecards. Think about these goals all the time and make sure you invest your time accordingly.
4. Log your time! Once you start writing down what you are spending time on (broad categories, adjusted to your specific life circumstances), you will likely find that the data look very different from what you expected and that you need to adjust your "time investment strategy."
5. Build a local community of real people in the real world! This will provide you with support and strength that you will never get for your humble-bragging on Twitter about your latest accomplishment. Just saying...

I hope some of these strategies are helpful to you, as well. Happy Monday!

Take care,

Flavio