By Stefanie & Robert “Sometimes, as a leader, you have to dine alone in the cafeteria without your team.” I (Robert) remember one of my superiors saying this when I worked in the corporate world and I experienced this “lonely” aspect of being a leader often. It underscored one leadership principle: When you step into…
By Stefanie Have you ever had someone leave a mess behind when they left your team? Data lost, reagents expire in a hidden corner of the fridge, and valuable samples turn to mold. You typically discover this only once you urgently need this sample for a last experiment to wrap up a paper. Or you…
by Robert I’ve observed it frequently: teams and organizations often demonstrate significant resistance to change. The typical scenario unfolds as follows: Consultants (and I need to admit that I have been one of them for many years) come in, tell top management everything that needs to change, leading to six months of hustle until the…
by Robert In my view, there are two types of people: those with a five-year plan and those without. While this observation might seem simplistic since it covers all possibilities, I aim to discuss the benefits of envisioning our place in the world five years from now and seeking it out. Research indicates that individuals…
by Robert Have you, at some point, felt the sting of unmet expectations? We all have and have been on both ends: the disappointed or the one having disappointed. Disappointment about unmet expectations can be due to our own performance not aligning with what was anticipated such as the execution of routine tasks. Say one…
by Stefanie Why are we researchers repeatedly or even constantly running a race against time? I find even the very valid principles that guide how to manage or even prevent those situations discussed in last week’s post not fully satisfying! In the last 10-12 years I’ve been focused on personal development and human performance seeking…
–By Robert During our last Leadership Lab, a participant posed a thought-provoking question in the Q&A session: ‘How do I decide what to do when everything seems equally important?’ Our expectable responses in the Q&A were: 1. Not everything is equally important. 2. One must differentiate between important and urgent tasks. 3. Decide which task…
––By Robert and Stefanie What if I told you that a single, almost invisible change in your meetings could skyrocket your team’s effectiveness and transform every session from a mundane necessity into a powerhouse of productivity and innovation? It’s not a high-tech tool or a costly consultant. It’s something far simpler, yet incredibly more powerful. …
by Robert When I started my first job, my team was spread out over six different cities. I had only one teammate with me in the office, but he moved on after a year. Team get-togethers happened only twice a year. Given this setup, and the fact that our business operations were global, phone calls…
by Stefanie Robel Recently a colleague asked me this excellent leadership question: “How much time does a PI need to be present for their team to ensure the lab thrives?” That’s a question that reminded me of my early years as a New PI. I recall a particular afternoon, when I snapped at a team…