Developing a Talent for Science

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Author: Ritsert Jansen

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Developing a Talent for Science Want to make the most of your talent for science? This practical guide for students, postdocs, and professors offers a unique stepwise approach to help you develop your expertise and become a more productive scientist. Covering topics from giving presentations and writing effectively to prioritizing your workload, it provides guidance to enhance your skills and combine them with those of others to your mutual benefit. Learn how to maintain your passion for science, inspire others to develop their abilities and motivate yourself to plan effectively, focus on your goals, and even optimize funding opportunities. With numerous valuable tips, real-life stories, novel questionnaires, and exercises for self-reflection, this must-read guide provides everything you need to take responsibility for your own personal and professional development. Ritsert C. Jansen is Professor of Bioinformatics and Head of the Bioinformatics Centre at the University of Groningen. He has a successful career in the sciences and extensive experience as a trainer on career and personal development courses.

Developing

a Talent for Science Ritsert C. Jansen University of Groningen

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS

Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sa˜o Paulo, Delhi, Dubai, Tokyo, Mexico City Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521193122 #

R.C. Jansen 2011

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2011 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging–in–Publication Data Jansen, Ritsert C. Developing a talent for science / Ritsert C. Jansen. p. cm. ISBN 978-0-521-19312-2 (Hardback) — ISBN 978-0-521-14961-7 (Pbk.) 1. Scientists—Vocational guidance. 2. Mentoring in science. I. Title. Q147.J36 2010 502.3—dc22 2010027378 ISBN 978-0-521-19312-2 Hardback ISBN 978-0-521-14961-7 Paperback Additional resources for this publication at www.cambridge.org/9780521193122 Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

Contents Introduction 1

1 Develop your talent 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9

8

Introduction Web Passion Prioritize Persevere Speak Write Fund Habits

2 Use other people’s talent 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 2.9

Introduction Web Read Listen Ask Share Collaborate Move (on) Habits

48

vi contents

3 Develop other people’s talent 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 3.9

Introduction Web Inspire Educate Unite Support Reward Keep in touch Habits

4 Make it happen 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9

120

Introduction Web Dream Count Believe Act Care Succeed Habits

5 Use your webs

152

5.1 Introduction 5.2 Complete

Further reading 165 Acknowledgments 170 Index 172

86

Introduction Who is this book for? This book has been written for people serious about science: students, postdocs, professors, trainers, and support and other staff. So what’s in it for you? I’ll outline this briefly in the next three paragraphs. You could read only the paragraph relevant to your involvement in science but why not read the other paragraphs as well. n

You’re a student. As a Bachelor, Master’s, or PhD student you take classes in science subjects. You are (for now) at the bottom of your career ladder, but it’s good to know what’s going on higher up the ladder, so that you can better understand, appreciate, and communicate with your teachers and supervisors in that special type of organization called a university. It may also help you in deciphering whether a career in science in a university or in a company would be attractive if it’s not your vocation. Some of you will already be involved in research projects and indeed feel you want to become a

2 introduction scientist at a university. Many of you will look for jobs outside the university and perform tasks in which you will nonetheless benefit greatly from having developed your talent for science as much as possible. So if you are a student, starting off on the road to becoming a scientist or something else, you will likely benefit both personally as well as professionally from reading this book. n

You’re a postdoc or professor. As your talent for science grows, you climb up the career ladder and may become a postdoc or even an assistant, associate, or full professor at a university. Alternatively, you may become a junior or senior scientist at a research institute or in industry. You start recruiting people with a talent for science, even top science, to join you in your research. How can you recognize and develop their talents, how can you retain these talented people? I trust that this book triggers your thoughts just that extra bit, that you will find it useful to fuel discussions with students and colleagues, and that you will pay more attention to developing your own talent and that of your students and colleagues.

n

You’re someone else serious about developing talent. Typically this category includes all researchers and heads of research groups in industry, but also nonscientists in universities, industry, or government. As a responsible manager, administrator, policy maker, or trainer, you can make all kinds of plans, but top students and scientists may have strong criticisms of your plans. Do you actually know what your scientists do every day? Do you offer them the right facilities and possibilities? Is success celebrated so that everyone knows what the real goals are? Is the support and training you offer adequate? If you read this book, you will better understand the essentials of science and use your staff’s powers to create the right conditions for making top quality science happen.

3 how is this book structured?

How is this book structured? Some of you are born with a head for mathematics, while other people are more gifted in biology, physics, chemistry, economic, or behavioral sciences, or some other science subject. It is encoded in your genes, so to speak. It’s in your nature. Is it that static? No, in reality it is much more dynamic. Even the most gifted child has to pass primary school, secondary school, and high school, before he or she has the knowledge and skills to crack an outstanding problem in science. So nurture counts as well, and this is what I mean by “developing a talent for science”. This book offers you lots of practical advice on how to do so. Chapters 1 to 4 describe the four successive steps in developing a talent for science. Chapter 5 encourages and empowers you to apply these four steps immediately in your daily life, and as a direct result you will become a much more effective student, postdoc, or professor. n

Step 1: Develop your talent. You help your talent to flourish by doing the right things right. You do the right things if you combine a basic talent with a strong passion. You do things right if you have acquired and improved the essential skills such as prioritizing, giving presentations, and writing. So the emphasis in this chapter is on you.

n

Step 2: Use other people’s talent. You can make more of your own talent by combining it with the talents of other people. This may seem obvious: of course, other people can help you do better. Nevertheless many (young) scientists are convinced that they, and only they, can do their particular job well and they therefore don’t look for help. So the emphasis in this chapter is on setting up useful directed connections from other people to you; for example, how to listen to them effectively, ask them relevant questions, or collaborate with them to your benefit.

4 introduction n

Step 3: Develop other people’s talent. You can make the most of your talent if you inspire not only yourself but also other people to make the most of their talents. This may seem like a strange and inefficient road: why invest in other people and not directly in yourself? Try seeing it this way: your team members and students learn from you how they can do the right things right, and you will have the best performing team to create more and better output (e.g. a nice PowerPoint presentation, and the beginning of a scientific paper at the end of a student project done in your lab). So this chapter is about how you can set up useful directed connections from you to other people; for example, how to inspire, educate, or unite them to their benefit.

n

Step 4: Make it happen. To quote Goethe: “A really great talent finds its happiness in execution.” You will be triggered to act and continue to act to make the most of your talent. Chapters 4 and 5 give you many practical guidelines on how to implement the ideas from the first three chapters in your daily life as a scientist, so that your dreams may come true. But there is no “free lunch”; you will really need to become active. The figure below visualizes the structure of the book. The “messages” in this book are illustrated by 24 stories, 29 exercises, and 4 self-reflection forms:

n

Stories can speak louder than anything else. The “messages” in these chapters are therefore illustrated by anecdotes from students, postdocs, professors, and other people serious about science; all these stories are presented in the first person. Some stories are mine, but most are from other people who shared their stories with me. This introduces some bias for biology and mathematics, but readers from completely different fields such as behavioral sciences have assured me that the messages appeal to them as much as they do to readers from

5 how is this book structured?

FIGURE INTRO.1 Structure of the book. Chapter 1 describes how you can develop your own talent (left arrow pointing to yourself), Chapter 2 describes how you can use other people’s talents (arrow pointing from the outside world to you), and Chapter 3 describes how you can help develop other people’s talents to their benefit and yours (arrow pointing from you to the outside world). Chapters 4 and 5 encourage and empower you to make all of this happen (the arrows together forming powerful circles).

my field. Life can produce wonderful and incredible stories: some details may have been changed to protect privacy, but all the stories are true. They can be yours in the future. If you would like to share your own favorite stories, please email them to me via [email protected], or visit the website www.talent4science.eu. n

Exercises can boost your talent more than anything else. The “messages” in these chapters have therefore been translated into various “try this” exercises. Most of these exercises you can do on your own, but some may benefit from interaction with your fellow students or colleagues during an ad-hoc group (organized by yourself) for example, or a tutor group meeting, or research group retreat, or academic skills training course. You can read and do the exercises as you come to them, but you can also read on (without breaking the flow in

6 introduction the chapters) and come back to the exercises later. But doing them at some point is essential, since they will guide you through a process that ends with your concrete aims and action plans for the short, middle, and long term. Doing these exercises is the way to water, nourish, and weed your ideas. But growing takes time. You can do these exercises at your own speed and maybe even repeat them from time to time. n

Self-reflection holds out prospects for a really interesting career. There are four web figures to help you visualize your strengths and weaknesses. The scores on these figures are calculated from a questionnaire that you fill in at the beginning of each of Chapters 1 to 4. You can then set your ambitions for preferred scores in, say, one year from now, and doing the exercises in the final Chapter 5 on “Use your webs” will help you define the appropriate actions to help you get there. To finish the introduction: this book aims to give you many ideas rather than to be comprehensive. It will plant seeds in your mind, although the watering, nourishing, weeding, and final harvesting are up to you. Good luck with your career, whether you decide to stay in science or not.

1

“I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious” Albert Einstein,

Nobel Prize winner, Physics, 1921

Develop your talent

10 develop your talent

1.1

Introduction Maybe you’re following a scientific course at a university as a Bachelor, Master’s, or PhD student. Or you’re already working as a postdoc or professor at a university, or in industry, or in the service sector. At each stage of your career other people are appealing to your unique knowledge and talent for science. This book cannot tell you how talented you are in math, biology, physics, chemistry, behavioral sciences, or any other subject. So what can it do? It emphasizes the essentials you need to add to your talent. It’s all about doing the right things right. You do the right things if you combine a basic talent with a strong passion for the chosen subject. You do things right if you have acquired and improved the essential skills such as prioritizing, giving presentations, and writing. So the emphasis in this chapter is on you. The factors I see as being most essential are: n

Passion. Is science your ultimate job vocation or do you want to use your science training in other ways? Does scientific thinking energize you? Do you say YES to science?

n

Prioritize. Can you do more than one or two things at the same time at a top level? Do you know what to do if you run out of time? Do you know when to say NO?

n

Persevere. Do you have the resolve to persevere? Once you have solved one problem, you’ll immediately bump into the

11 introduction next one. How do you deal with cumbersome problems, setbacks, and stress? n

Speak. Do you know how to report your work? What makes a presentation a great one? What would you say if you unexpectedly met your professor or dean in the elevator?

n

Write. In science you have to report your findings. What makes for successful writing? Do the slogan “sense and simplicity” (used by the multinational company Philips) and the saying “less is more” ring a bell?

n

Fund. Do you want to shape your own future in science, industry, or elsewhere? How can you increase your chances of getting your plans funded now or in the future?


1.2

Web passion prioritize

fund

persevere

write speak

FIGURE 1.1 Web for plotting your personal scores

So how good are you in using your talent? It’s time for some self-reflection. This figure shows a spider’s web. The more you score on the outer ring, the better you are (or think you are). Why not draw your own? You can download the web from www.talent4science.eu.

13 web There are several ways to determine your scores: n

Intuitively. Your unconscious self may well be able to provide a good evaluation. Use a color to clearly indicate your scores on the web.

n

Questionnaire. You can use the following questions (see next pages) to help in scoring yourself. Write down your scores quickly (don’t think too hard) using a 0–5 scale and sum the scores per category (between 0 and 30). Then use a different color to indicate these scores on the web: 0 in the center, 5 on the first ring, up to 30 on the outer ring. You can ignore irrelevant questions or modify the questions so that they are more relevant to your situation.

You’ll use your web scores in the final chapter “Use your webs”. Then you’ll be invited to set priorities and make concrete plans for improving your scores.


Develop your talent scale: almost never ¼ 0 – 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 ¼ almost always

Passion I like solving challenging problems I am intrigued by research outside my own field I am happy to work over the weekend or night I like working on new unproven ideas I am prepared to run the extra mile I watch science programs on television Sum

Sum

Sum

Prioritize I know my long-term aims I do higher priority tasks first I take decisions based on my own vision I delegate tasks to other people I finish tasks well and in time I skip useless meetings

Persevere I can focus for a time on a single problem I can look at problems from new angles I alternate hard exploration with relaxation I recognize factors that frustrate progress I have fun at work I cope well with stress and setbacks

15 web

Speak I polish my presentations to perfection I create pictures telling a thousand words I stay well within allotted time for presentations I can tell my story to non-experts in simple words I have a sales pitch of two minutes ready on my work I am proactive and offer to give presentations Sum

Write I write drafts quickly not bothering about details I have a good feel for logical order in texts I can cut any text to half its number of words I put my drafts aside to have a fresh look later I make my documents a joy to read I ask outsiders to comment on my texts Sum

Fund I am looking for “sales options” I aim for the big fish not the minnows I actively work on building a stronger CV I make important information stand out well I tailor my application to the needs of the funding agency I apply for traveling stipends to attend conferences Sum


1.3

Passion Studying science can be fun; but working in science can be even more rewarding. You can really push the frontiers of knowledge or use that knowledge to contribute to a better world. You have a lot of freedom to be curious, to do what you want to do. You’re paid to play. Does that sound attractive? Do you say YES to science? Is a career in science your vocation? Then you feel what inspiration, passion, motivation, and inner drive can do for you – in addition to your talent. If you study or work whole-heartedly, then it’s not a problem to work (sometimes) for hours and hours. Study or work becomes your hobby, it energizes you. Most of the time you go to study or work in the morning with pleasure and sometimes you may even regret that it is the weekend. Now what if this is not the case, if you’re not 100% enthusiastic about your course or your work? Maybe you’re not on the right track and science is indeed not going to be your vocation in the longer term. But it could also be that you just need to add “something” to your talent for science. For example, you may be overwhelmed by tasks and living may have become surviving. Maybe you have real passion for the subject, but you are doing things the wrong way. The next sections discuss the essential skills for doing things right, and the exercises in these sections may help study or work become fun again. You might also be completely sure of yourself: you know you’re

17 passion passionate about the subject area, while you also know you don’t want to go for the traditional science career, for example because detailed bench work or the high competition is not for you. No problem; there are many ways you can direct your talent elsewhere and the ideas in this book for developing talent are just as applicable to you as they are to people who go for a traditional science career. The questionnaires and exercises in this book can help those of you who are not so sure about their destination to reflect on themselves. Here are some examples of how you can implement a YES to science into a career in a university, institute, public service, or commercial company: n

Start as a PhD student, and then sequentially become a postdoc for 2–4 years, an assistant professor for 5–6 years, an associate professor for another 5–6 years, and finally a tenured full professor. As a PhD student you may cosupervise research MSc students, as a postdoc a PhD student, and as assistant professor you will most likely be the principal investigator (PI) on projects for which you were awarded the funding. Your research group will grow in size if you move up to associate and full professor positions. This is the traditional science career. See Figure 1.2 below.

n

Start as a PhD student and perhaps do one or two postdoc terms before you move to a position in an institute’s or company’s research group, where you may become head of a research team after a couple of years, and later move on to other senior positions in development, marketing, sales, or board of directors. Generating profits in the short term of course matters a lot more in companies than in universities. How can you convince a company that hiring you is an excellent investment? See Figure 1.3 below.

n

Start as a PhD student and experience what it is to be a postdoc, but if being a principal investigator is not what

18 develop your talent you’re looking for, then consider some other particularly scientific positions, such as program manager for a funding agency, or editor of a scientific journal, still working close to science. n

Start as a PhD student and use your experience from that period in other ways, e.g. start up your own company, become a scientific publisher, government policy maker or advisor, or school teacher.

Nobel Prize Prof

Postdoc

PhD

MSc

FIGURE 1.2 The traditional science career

19 passion

Director Senior consultant Entrepreneur Postdoc Teacher

PhD Junior consultant

MSc

FIGURE 1.3 Alternative careers

It may be very helpful to have a mentor, a person you consider to be a good role model for you. However, at the end of the day, don’t forget to be (or find) your real self (there are already enough other people), follow your own heart and destiny. Einstein was “passionately curious”; how about you? Plan your career with your heart, not with your head.


A POSTDOC’S ANECDOTE

Walking with two Nobel Prize winners In my office I have a large poster hanging on the wall above the meeting table. It shows a pleasant picture of a lake and some buildings, all part of the “genome campus” in Cambridge, UK. The poster was produced to celebrate the official opening of the campus in 2000 – and I attended that ceremony. Sitting under this poster I tend to tell this story to my visitors. Imagine four people walking around the edge of that lake: me, a colleague, and at a distance of ten meters from us, two Nobel Prize winners: James Watson, who won a Nobel Prize for discovering the structure of DNA, and Frederick Sanger, who won a Nobel Prize in chemistry for his research on the structure of proteins and, 22 years later, a second Nobel Prize for developing the Sanger Sequencing Method, which was the major DNA decoding technique used in the International Human Genome Project. Just imagine the scene. I can still feel how exciting it was to walk there, so close to two people who had made such wonderful discoveries. The admiration does its work, stimulating me and my visitors to feel that being a scientist is a lot more than just having a “job”.

21 passion

/

TRY THIS!

Yesterday when I was young1

Which “things” inspired you when you were younger, say between 14 and 17 years old? Did you have ambitions and ideas on how to build up a meaningful life, perhaps on how to contribute to a better world? How about the period between 7 and 14 years old: do you still remember moments of ultimate joy? Take a piece of paper and write down everything that comes to your mind or, alternatively, visualize this in a quick drawing. For example, as a teenager did you dream about studying and protecting wildlife in the sea? Do you still remember occasions when you had achieved something and jumped around and shouted from the rooftops with excitement? Describe or sketch this. Do you remember the time you had an exciting backstage visit to a zoo or you talked to someone from the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)? Your quick drawing will show sea life and shorebirds and more. How much of this happiness is still present in your life today or in your current career track? If you like, use a second piece of paper and describe or draw what’s really important in your life today, showing what you have chosen to do nowadays. Perhaps today you see yourself studying marine biology or doing research on Antarctica. But maybe today’s drawing shows you doing molecular analyses on in vitro samples in some high-tech lab. And now compare the images of the younger “you” with those of today’s “you”, and see what this tells you about your passion and the choices you’ve made so far in your life.

1

Title of a famous song by Charles Aznavour and Herbert Kretzmer.


1.4

Prioritize If you know where you want to go with your talent, that’s great. However, whether you arrive at your destination will depend to a large extent on your ability to say NO. Doing experiments, writing manuscripts, getting them published, we all agree these tasks are important. So they deserve your YES. Some even deserve your immediate YES; for example, checking preprints of your upcoming paper usually has to be done within 48 hours (see figure below). In practice, your YES may be in danger because you may have many other relatively unimportant duties, some of which may even look urgent, for example the deadline for your contribution to the annual report. How can you avoid your YES in capitals for the important tasks becoming a yes in way-too-small a font size in practice? The point is that most people cannot do more than one or two big tasks at the same time. A good general strategy is to first put the bigger stones (first say YES to the important things) into the basket, then pour the sand (the smaller, less important things) into it, and not the other way around, because if the basket is half full of sand this prevents you from putting in the bigger stones. . .and you can be sure that learning about and solving scientific problems belongs to the category of big stones. Also remember that tasks often take you much longer than predicted, so keep this in mind when you plan your work.

23 prioritize

Not important

Important

Not urgent

Urgent

Do experiment

Revise manuscript

Draft manuscript

Write reply to reviewers

Submit manuscript

Submit revision

Meet without agenda

Write new text for annual report (instead of reusing texts from manuscripts)

Make a fuss about things you cannot influence

FIGURE 1.4 Spend your time on important tasks. Some of them may be urgent; most of them are not. Be clever in handling unimportant tasks, no matter whether they seem urgent or not

A YES to someone else can be a NO to yourself. We all have our examples, such as when you have spent the whole afternoon on some meeting organized by the boss, whereas you wanted to continue writing your manuscript. Sometimes there isn’t even a boss or another person to “blame”. We all have our caveats; for example, you browse the internet for so long or talk on MSN or Skype or other internet chat sites with so many people. But how sad if you then fail to do your work, if this turns out to be not a YES but a NO to yourself. How often do you say YES to something that deserves a NO? If you do say YES, then there are usually different ways of how to implement your YES. Some implementations are more costly (in time, effort, or money) than others, so be creative and search for the cheaper ones. For example, prepare your contribution for the annual progress report by copying (and slightly editing) the abstracts of your conference posters or published papers. Another example: carefully consider how many meetings you attend – is that meeting really so essential (as a whole or in part)? Are you really so essential to that meeting? Can other people show up at your workplace to save

24 develop your talent you traveling time (and to test whether the others are serious enough to want to invest in the traveling time)? Would it suffice to have a telephone conference (use a phone with a loudspeaker)? These options should be your “defaults”. Going to meetings as occupational therapy or to make you feel important should never become a habit. Don’t let other people fill your schedule. You want to be successful. But just suppose you become successful – it can actually become quite a nuisance, and there may be a time in your career that you notice that you’re beginning to suffer from too much success. Here, by success, I mean that other people are beginning to show serious interest in what you are doing. For a few this happens pretty early on in their career (for example, during an MSc or PhD period, if you have given a nice presentation about your thesis work); for others it might not come until later (sometime during a postdoctoral period). If you’re successful, you’ll start to get honorable offers for an internship or job, a request for a presentation or collaboration, or an invitation to become a course assistant or (student) committee member. Great, this allows you to select and pursue the most exciting and promising options. But, after the exploratory phase, you must cut the least promising options off and say NO, unless you want to lose your passion and stop solving new scientific problems. Living should not become a struggle to survive. Don’t wait to see what happens to you. Be creative, prioritize, and decide for yourself. You’re the architect of your own career in science. You can blame no one else if you’re running out of time, if living becomes surviving. Learn to say NO.

25 prioritize

A PHD STUDENT’S ANECDOTE

Help, I’m successful I was able to turn my Master’s thesis into a small information technology company but, after a while, my curiosity and wish to learn new things made me change from exploring business opportunities to starting a PhD project: I said NO to business. But then people started to show interest in my half-finished software products developed as part of my research. I wondered what to do. Since I was still in doubt about a future career direction, my supervisor and I decided to allow for further exploration of the business options through an extension of my PhD contract, with an extra year being funded by income from the business. By the end of my four-year PhD period, I had several nice publications, several grants awarded for various new projects, and a growing network in science. But I was at a T-junction with options in computing science on the one side and in information technology business on the other. Above all, the one-year extension period allowed me to figure out where to put the career ladder: against the science wall (my YES) rather than on the business wall (a NO), but without denying the possibility of commercial spin-offs from my work, just leaving that for other people to do.

/

TRY THIS!

No can do

How often do you say YES to something that deserves a NO? Choose an appropriate day to monitor this, such as yesterday (if you still remember your activities well enough), today

26 develop your talent (including the moment when you are reading this sentence), or tomorrow (when you may have a busy schedule). Make a list of all the activities you have done – all of them received a YES from you. Now look again and carefully score these activities on a priority scale from a “should-really-have-been-a-NO” to the “highest-possible-YES”. Also note the order in which you performed these activities and how much time they took. Did you do the most important things first or at the moments you were feeling most bright and active? Did they take more time than anticipated? And then think about those things you didn’t do: did you postpone activities that should really have been a YES? What can you conclude about how you set priorities?

27 persevere

1.5

Persevere Problems, problems, problems. Some people tell you to speak about challenges instead. This change of words refers to a change in attitude, in mental state. It may help you to accept failure better and celebrate success more (see figure below).

Passion, will, do, persevere

Success

Failure

Frustration Accept

Accumulate

Complain, whine, cynicism, apathy

FIGURE 1.5 Accept failure and celebrate success

If you’re passionate then you won’t become tired quickly and you’ll have mental strength and perseverance, even if things don’t go your way immediately. Keep at it. As a student, you’ll see you spend most time on the difficult sections in your course books. As a researcher, the easiest problems have all

28 develop your talent been solved, so it’s only logical that your problem should be so huge and look so unsolvable. If your current task is really difficult, then close your door for an hour or two of undisturbed perseverance and of gnashing your teeth, to help you get through the first difficult period when you can’t see any solution or way forward. From your own experience, you’ll know that days with seemingly little progress are always followed by “eureka!” moments. The more you have suffered, the higher the feeling of euphoria once you have tackled your problem. Some suffering and frustration is not always a bad thing, as long as you haven’t lost your self-respect because of all the struggling and suffering. Focus on the result, remember your earlier successes, keep focused, don’t lose your head. And do alternate hours of exploration with release – you often get creative breakthroughs in your more relaxed moments, when taking a shower, on the way home, or going for a jog. It’s essential, again and again, to make space for your creativity. Talk to others as well as your mentor if necessary – a different way of looking at a problem can often help, even if that person is not an expert in the subject.


Elephants I had discovered an alternative interpretation for a claim made in a paper published in a high-impact journal. My boss and I sent a note to the journal but it stayed under review for more than 15 months and got rejected in the end, even after three rounds of revision – a rather macabre and frustrating record. We finally published the note in another journal and even won an award at a conference for

29 persevere

it – this was much appreciated recognition after all our earlier suffering. In science, as in most professions, you will sometimes need an elephant’s thick skin . . . and lots of perseverance.

/

TRY THIS!

Big tasks

I have arrived at writing this page . . . but there are still so many pages to go, so much work to be done, so much uncertainty about whether it will ever be finished, printed, bought, read, and appreciated. In your work, you too will have similar “big” tasks, like doing your Master’s or PhD research and writing a thesis (“Will my thesis ever see the light of day?”), or developing your own research line and applying for a grant (“Competition is so strong”). Consider two such tasks you have been involved in, perhaps one that went pretty well and one that didn’t proceed as hoped for. How much perseverance was needed? Which issues were holding back progress and how did you go about solving them? Think of external factors (e.g. a failed experiment causing a major delay) as well as internal factors (e.g. your ability to cope with disaster). Is there a lesson here for you? For example, that it may help to gather other information or to ask somebody for help or to put the problem aside for some time? Perhaps now invite one or more of your fellow students or colleagues to come and brainstorm on what actions would help solve the current problem.


1.6

Speak Can you make a sales pitch about your research in just five minutes? Impossible? That’s a real pity if you find yourself sharing the elevator with your supervisor, boss, or dean. Be prepared for such unique chances. It will be difficult and time consuming to find simple words (and convincing mental images) that people can grab and remember easily, but it will definitely pay off in the longer term. You’ll have the core of an excellent presentation, poster, or paper about your work, and you’ll be ready for a job interview or to meet the editor of a scientific journal, maybe even Nature or Science, at a conference. Preparing an excellent presentation can take a lot of time (perhaps inversely proportional to the time you are allowed to talk), but I can guarantee that you will benefit from investing the time. Use as few words as possible on your slides (keywords only) and try to tell your story using simple pictures (which people can “see” in their mind much more quickly and generally remember a lot better). When discussing draft manuscripts, I tend to ask students and colleagues to just tell me what the real problem is they’re studying and what their most exciting results are. Usually their spoken version is a much better sales pitch than their written version. Try to explain your work to your friends, partner, parents, or distant colleagues. Or just talk to yourself

31 speak in the mirror. It may take quite a time before you have your story polished nicely, but investing the time and effort will pay off. Use the spoken version of your story for your slide show. How can you design a good one? The first slide shown in the figure below may look like the standard template for your university, with a big logo at the top of the slide. But why? Are you marketing your university or your own story? The top of

Example of a terribly bad slide People in the back of a meeting room can see the top of a slide – often they can't see the bottom, so don't put the institute's logo in the top! This slide contains far too much text. Nobody will be able to read it. And if they do start reading, they won't be able to listen anymore. Please drop that silly background.

Proper slide design

Slide title in the top Logo at the bottom No funny background Short texts

FIGURE 1.6 Bad and good slide designs

32 develop your talent your slide is the only part that people in the back of the meeting room are likely to be able to read, and it shouldn’t be wasted on unimportant information. Putting important information at the bottom of your slide can be dangerous: often the audience can’t see the bottom and they may be distracted and not able to listen to you anymore. The first slide also contains too many words. Remember, in a presentation you have an audience, not a readership. Think about why you might like the format of the second slide better.


Selling onions Many important people, like the Queen, the Minister of Agriculture, the town mayor, and various captains of industry, came to the opening of the new buildings at our plant breeding institute in Wageningen, the Netherlands. As part of the entertainment, the VIPs were taken on a tour around the buildings and saw research demonstrations at ten different places. I was elected to present my work on modern molecular plant breeding, in the short period of only three minutes. What I still remember is how difficult and time consuming the preparation had been – selling my research with as few words and visual supports as possible. What can you say in only three minutes? I decided to use onions to support my story and I went to the greengrocer to buy different varieties of onions. I put colored stickers on them to indicate the outcomes of molecular assays for disease resistance, yield, and other traits. After explaining my research strategy to the VIPs, I then quickly selected the best onion variety – hoping it was the best – by

33 speak

looking for the ideal assay outcomes. I practiced and improved the whole presentation many times, and then the real demonstration turned out to be almost a real sales pitch. Not only did I sell my science quite well, I almost sold the selected onion: the demonstration was so realistic that the director of a plant breeding company wanted to buy the selected onion as a new, high-potential variety. . .

/

TRY THIS!

KISS

Now have a good look at your own slide shows and enjoy the enormous pleasure you experience when you manage to simplify your story. In this exercise try to compress your presentation into just five minutes. Be very critical and evaluate every picture and word in the slides and think about whether a simplified version can still convey the same information. Keep it short and simple (KISS). Do a try-out of your KISS version on your colleagues and friends. This try-out should have at least two phases: first, your presentation; second, a slide-by-slide discussion with your audience to figure out what they liked and disliked. Then go and revise your slides and present them to a different audience again, followed by another review round. At the end, you will have a convincing story and you’ll be ready for a conference or chance meeting with your director or dean.


1.7

Write So you’ve prepared a five-minute story to make a sales pitch for your research work. Now write it down, as if you’re telling the story to someone, add the details and then critically prune the draft. Just start writing, write quickly (don’t bother about the spelling), really write as if you’re telling the story out loud to somebody. As I said in the last section: I frequently ask people to tell me face-to-face what they intended to write down on paper and I am always surprised how much better that spoken version is than the written version. Obviously the pruning is very important. Don’t be surprised if you can rewrite the whole story in half the number of words. And do expect to spend some time on this process. There are many good books and internet sites that outline how to write an excellent text, whether it’s a report, paper, review, or abstract (see the “Further reading” section at the end). These will teach you about “less is more” and how the title and abstract are extremely important because they first attract the attention of potential readers to your paper – or put them off. The abstract should be inspiring, a joy to read, self-contained, and balanced in terms of general versus expert information. The books referred to above will also show you how a transparent structure for your paper (perhaps structured like a good internet site) can help your readers to see immediately what you’re offering. They can then quickly decide where to start reading.

35 write Books and internet sites can also show you how to use simple, “down-to-earth” language for the basic facts (avoid long, pompous sentences). Carefully weigh every word and every sentence and if in doubt, delete it. Such guides also stress that figures, boxes, or tables can illustrate the most important messages in an easily accessible form (which the reader will remember well). However, they also point out that it is not enough to do a good job of describing the experiment and results; in order to get your paper published you need to “sell” your findings and explain why the reader should care. If you apply for an internship or a job, you write a letter and add a re´sume´ (curriculum vitae). The rules for writing a manuscript also apply to your re´sume´. Here is a fragment from the front page of a re´sume´. How does it look? Does the important information stand out well? TABLE 1.1 Fragment of a re´sume´

Curriculum Vitae -Title: Dr -First name: John -Initials: J. -Prefix: -Surname: Smith -Male/female: Male -Address for correspondence: Department of Something, University of Somewhere P.O. Box 1001 5500 AB Town The Netherlands -Preference for correspondence in English: no -Telephone: þ31.50.2223334/23300 -Fax: þ31.50.22233330 -E-mail: [email protected]


-Website (optional): http://www.us.nl/university/faculty/researchgroup/ something/research/neurodegenerativediseases/ animalmodels/index

And here is a version with exactly the same information in a different layout, and with a useful website address (no one will check out the long address in the original text). TABLE 1.2 Fragment of a re´sume´ (revised)

Curriculum Vitae Title: First name: Initials: Surname: Male/female: Correspondence to:

Correspondence in: Telephone: Fax: E-mail: Website:

Dr John J. Smith Male Department of Something University of Somewhere P.O. Box 1001 5500 AB Town The Netherlands Dutch or English þ31.50.2223334 þ31.50.2223333 [email protected] www.us.nl/~john

One final remark about good writing: it requires time for contemplation. You will benefit greatly from being able to put your draft aside for a couple of days and then taking a fresh look at it later. So never send a text to a supervisor or to a scientific journal just because you get frustrated with it.

37 write

A PROFESSOR’S ANECDOTE

It’s not simple to achieve simplicity I was once invited by a journal editor to review a manuscript and write a News and Views item on it. I accepted the invitation, but found it hard to understand the structure of the paper. At first I thought that was due to my lack of knowledge. But, after some hard thinking and extensive discussions with a colleague – not all journal reviewers will be as patient – I discovered the logic in the experiments and was able to summarize the whole experimental set-up in a single figure. As a result – suddenly – the paper was much easier to understand. This was the ultimate proof that a figure can represent a thousand words! Although it may be really hard work to reduce a complex issue into something simple and transparent, it’s worth giving it a serious try.

/

TRY THIS!

Taste a text

Here is the original (draft) version of a proposal abstract (some details are changed to protect privacy). The chances are that you are not an expert in this field of research and that may even be an advantage: you can see more clearly where and why these texts fail, or where and how they raise excitement. Spend 2–3 minutes on reading it while carefully listening to all your thoughts and feelings. Look at the layout from a distance – is it visually easy to read? Look at the title – is it a good summary

38 develop your talent of the whole proposal? Does it catch your attention and why? Read the proposal text. Do you see the words of the title repeatedly appearing throughout the text? Read the abstract. Can you see the vision and bigger picture? Does it appeal to you as a non-expert? Is the significance of the research explained well or do you have a “so what” feeling? Perhaps read it once more, but now aloud. Carefully “taste” it word by word, sentence by sentence. How does it taste? Does it invite you to “eat” more? What can be done to make it taste better? TABLE 1.3 Original title and abstract

Genetic intervention in the dynamics of amyloid formation in fly models of age-related neurodegenerative diseases Amyloid inclusions are a pathological hallmark of several incurable, age-related neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and Huntington’s disease. These inclusions are formed from misfolded disease proteins that aggregate via toxic intermediates and likely represent a cellular protection mechanism. How these inclusions are formed during cellular aging and how this process is influenced by hereditary factors is poorly understood. Here I will use small animal (Drosophila melanogaster) models for amyloid diseases to uncover genes and processes involved in age-dependent amyloid inclusion formation. In genome-wide genetic screens we have identified genes that, when depleted or mutated, alter the number of inclusions or aggregates. We have characterized one of these genes, modifier of aggregation 1 (ABC-1), a homolog of previously uncharacterized XYZ1 and XYZ2 in humans. We have found that ABC-1 regulates life-span and drives misfolded proteins into aggregates by regulating the transition from a misfolded monomer to an amyloid seeding structure. The amyloid promoting activity of ABC-1 is unprecedented. I hypothesize that ABC-1 represents an

39 write

unexplored pathway that drives misfolded proteins towards amyloid inclusions. With an XXX fellowship, I would like explore this pathway by developing Drosophila melanogaster strains in order to identify and characterize other genes involved. Uncovering this protein quality control pathway will add to our understanding of these life-disrupting diseases and open up new avenues for treating the initiating events in aging-associated neurodegenerative diseases.

I suggest you do the same exercise with one of your own products, such as an abstract to a report or manuscript you have written recently. Ask another student or colleague to join you. Now exchange the abstracts and carefully read each other’s abstract. After approximately 30 minutes, discuss your impressions and suggestions for improvement. I bet you’ll now have new ideas for how to polish your own abstract and get it to shine brilliantly.


1.8

Fund During your Bachelor, Master’s, PhD, and postdoc periods you will usually work on projects proposed and initiated by other people. If you are getting on well in such a project, you will soon notice that you go beyond the original plan: you develop better, smarter ideas, fueled by your growing understanding. This might allow you to taste for the first time that you can, should, and perhaps even want to give direction to your own work. Maybe there is nothing more attractive than being able to do what you have proposed and arranged yourself as early as possible in your career. This is possible: there are many options for a talented student or researcher to get a personal grant. If you want to start a career in science, then apply for such grants as early as possible. But remember, no one wants to pay for mediocrity. Of course, good grant application skills will also pay off in other circumstances, such as in a commercial company if you need to convince your director about your future plans, as an entrepreneur to convince your prospective clients about your offer, or as a job hunter to convince your hoped-for future employer that you are the ideal candidate. So what we discuss in this section in the context of science grants can have a much wider application. Some countries may have a national organization for scientific research or private foundations offering various kinds of grants. They may offer funds for traveling to visit other

41 fund institutes or to attend conferences, and they may have training grants for talented students. For example, the American Heart Foundation, like many other foundations, offers help for students at various levels. The EU offers “Starting Investigator Grants” for newly qualified PhDs and for postdocs with several years of experience, and “Advanced Investigator Grants” for those who are getting close to full professor level. The National Institutes of Health in the USA offer young investigators an “R01 Grant” to fund “investigator initiated” projects. Such grants not only provide a considerable sum of money and additional freedom to perform your research in your own way, but they also carry national and international recognition – some are even considered prestigious awards. That status may help you in the future. When writing a proposal for funding your internship, training, or project, pay a lot of attention to the title, the abstract, and your curriculum vitae. Remember that the abstract is often the first part read by a committee member or reviewer and it sets the first impression – just as with a research paper. In most cases only one or two of your judges will be experts in your line of research, but other non-experts will also be asked to grade and rank your proposal. Your abstract of a project proposal should argue that you are going to tackle the big problem not the secondary issues, that you have evidence from a pilot study to demonstrate you can jump the hurdles, and it should be sufficiently concrete about the tasks you propose to perform. Above all, ensure you really address what the funding agency wants: remember, it’s not about “what’s in it for me” but “what’s in it for them”. This requires an empathy of the conscious and unconscious needs of the other party and you need to be able to put your message into their language. Taken together, your application must convince the review board to invest in your project (rather than other projects).

42 develop your talent If you apply for a personal grant, the only thing that should be in the spotlight is you. It’s really about presenting yourself professionally. Demonstrate your best skills and greatest successes shamelessly – but ensure they are based on the hard facts. For young scientists this may involve your rather nice MSc thesis, your concrete contribution to the science of your supervisor, possibly the first paper you coauthored on, or a poster shown at a national or international conference. For the more experienced researchers, this may involve the number of times your papers have been cited, the project you have carried out successfully, your visits to other groups run by important scientists of other universities at home or abroad, any prizes or grants you have been awarded, any type of attention that your work has been given in newspapers or scientific journals (e.g. editorials or news and views articles in important journals that mention your name). It is all about you and your talent for science. So make sure you build up a curriculum vitae you are proud of. Don’t forget to demonstrate your personal leadership skills too. What matters is not only the scientific content of your proposal but also whether you are a person with character, a solid worker, and a good leader, the talent of the future. The review board is looking for whether the return on investment in you would be bigger than the return from someone else. Your proposals for funding will often be evaluated by reviewers – usually your colleagues in science – who will express an anonymous opinion about your plan. Reviewing proposals is a terrible job. A referee usually has to evaluate a whole bunch of proposals in a short time and perhaps initially has only five minutes per proposal. If your proposal looks or reads less well than other proposals, the referee may lose interest – it’s just too tiring to decipher what you’re trying to say, too boring, or not innovational enough compared with the competition. So do make the life of your referee(s) as easy as possible (see also the previous section “Write” and the exercise below).

43 fund


Publish your project proposal! Some project proposals require a large section on the background to the research and this allowed me to apply a trick: I asked a journal editor for help. I carefully drafted a section on the background to my proposed project, made an executive summary, and then submitted these to the editor of a journal in the Nature group. The editor was interested and reviewers and editors helped me to improve on my text. It was published as a “perspective” or “opinion” paper, quite realistic given the fact that it was supposed to be part of a proposal rather than finished work. I used this final text as a basis for the background section in my grant application. Did this trick work? Absolutely – the proposal was highly rated!

/

TRY THIS!

Polishing an abstract

The exercise in the previous section asked you to read an abstract and note its shortcomings. This exercise asks you to evaluate my proposals for making that abstract better at selling the research. A very simple revision would be to play with an alternative layout. How do you like fully justified text or white space between sections? Does this look better? Is it easier to browse the text to get a feel for the content from diagonal reading before a complete read-through?

44 develop your talent TABLE 1.4 Changing only the layout

Genetic intervention in the dynamics of amyloid formation in fly models of age-related neurodegenerative diseases Amyloid inclusions are a pathological hallmark of several incurable, age-related neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, and Huntington’s disease. These inclusions are formed from misfolded disease proteins that aggregate via toxic intermediates and likely represent a cellular protection mechanism. How these inclusions are formed during cellular aging and how this process is influenced by hereditary factors is poorly understood. Here I will use small animal (Drosophila melanogaster) models for amyloid diseases to uncover genes and processes involved in age-dependent amyloid inclusion formation. In genome-wide genetic screens we have identified genes that, when depleted or mutated, alter the number of inclusions or aggregates. We have characterized one of these genes, modifier of aggregation 1 (ABC-1), a homolog of previously uncharacterized XYZ1 and XYZ2 in humans. We have found that ABC-1 regulates life-span and drives misfolded proteins into aggregates by regulating the transition from a misfolded monomer to an amyloid seeding structure. The amyloid promoting activity of ABC-1 is unprecedented. I hypothesize that ABC-1 represents an unexplored pathway that drives misfolded proteins towards amyloid inclusions. With an XXX fellowship, I would like to explore this pathway by developing Drosophila melanogaster in order to identify and characterize other genes involved. Uncovering this protein quality control pathway will add to our understanding of these life-disrupting diseases and open up new avenues for treating the initiating events in aging-associated neurodegenerative diseases.

45 fund Here is my extensively edited version of the title and abstract. Do you see the differences? Which version do you like more and why? Do you see ways to improve this text further? TABLE 1.5 Alternative title and abstract for personal grant application

Age-related neurodegenerative diseases: how the fly Drosophila melanogaster will open up novel strategies for genetic intervention in humans Parkinson, Alzheimer, and Huntington are quickly becoming major diseases in the Western World and frustrate humankind’s strong desire for healthy aging. We urgently need prevention and intervention strategies, but we must first understand how the underlying molecular mechanisms work. The pathological hallmarks of these age-related neurodegenerative diseases are misfolding of proteins and so-called amyloid inclusions. The mechanisms underlying misfolding and inclusions are still largely unknown, but can be studied using the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) model. In my pioneering work published in journals X and Y, I was able to find key genes which alter the number of inclusions or aggregates. In particular, this work pointed towards the ABC-1 gene regulating the transition from a misfolded monomer to an amyloid seeding structure. I have shown that the amyloid promoting activity of ABC-1 is unprecedented. This project aims to fully elucidate the molecular mechanism and the pathway in which ABC-1 operates. To this end, the project will focus on the following tasks . . . , . . . and . . .. In conclusion, this fundamental research project in the fruit fly will lead to a breakthrough in our understanding and open up important new avenues for treating the initiating events in aging-associated neurodegenerative diseases.

46 develop your talent I roughly followed a layout that states “the big problem” in the first paragraph, “the state of the art” in the second, the “hypothesis and pilot study” in the third, the “aims and tasks” in the fourth, and why it’s “worth funding” in the final paragraph. Actually, the original abstract lacks information on the aims and tasks, so I can only point to this shortcoming by typing “. . .” when it comes to specific aims and tasks. The text is evenly distributed over the paragraphs, which is more pleasing to the eye.

47 habits

1.9

Habits This section rounds off the chapter on developing your talent. Below is a list of good habits of highly effective students and scientists, based on what we’ve learned in the previous sections:

□ Having strong personal drive □ Looking for challenges □ Being engaged and enthusiastic □ Setting priorities well □ Acting on own desires □ Working hard when needed □ Not giving up □ Setting yourself high standards □ Focusing on success □ Finishing tasks □ Coping well with stress □ Speaking briefly and to the point □ Writing briefly and to the point □ Seeing, creating, and taking chances □ Having a polished sales pitch Select your two strongest and two weakest habits from the above list (tick ☑). Do you have any “empirical evidence” to support your choice, e.g. concrete stories showing your habits in action?

2

“The hardest problems of pure and applied science can only be solved by the open collaboration of the world-wide scientific community.” Kenneth G. Wilson, Nobel Prize winner, Physics, 1982

Use other people’s talent

50 use other people’s talent

2.1

Introduction One plus one makes two, doesn’t it? Wrong! One plus one can make a lot more than two and that is what synergy is all about. Combine your talent for science with that of other people. As a Bachelor, Master’s, or PhD student you will primarily be examined on the basis of what you have done (in an excellent way, e.g. your exam) or contributed (something novel and creative). Your results always build on top of what other talented people have contributed at an earlier stage. How can you make the most of other people’s findings? As a postdoc or a professor you may be supervising students working on Bachelor, Master’s, and PhD thesis projects, and you may also be collaborating with colleagues on a national or international scale. How can you make the most of your interactions with other people? The factors I see as being most essential are: n

Read. Scientists write a lot. You may easily suffer from data overload. So what should you read, and how?

n

Listen. Scientists present their work at all kinds of meetings. Good listeners learn fast. You will experience ultimate moments of “eureka!” when a solution for your problem appears, or moments of “how curious” if a new view manifests itself. Can you learn to listen better?

51 introduction n

Ask. Show real interest in what other people present and demonstrate your interest by asking questions. Do you know how to ask questions effectively? Everyone is afraid of asking a silly question, but you will at least learn from the answer.

n

Share. How would you benefit the most in the long term: by “open source” sharing of all the profits resulting from your talent, or by keeping it all “closed up” for your own work as much as possible? Think of how Google or Wikipedia got started.

n

Collaborate. Two can and do know more than one. How do you successfully collaborate in mono- or multidisciplinary teams? What problems should you expect and how can you cope with them?

n

Move (on). You would like to study or work at a place where your talent can flourish best. How do you select that environment? How do you ensure that you can keep “moving on” in your career even if you don’t move to another place?


2.2

Web read listen

move on

ask

collaborate share

FIGURE 2.1 Web for plotting your personal scores

So how good are you in using other people’s talent? Use your intuition and the questions listed below to obtain your scores for the spider web above. Write down your scores quickly (don’t think too hard) using a 0–5 scale, calculate the total score per category, and plot them on the web. Then draw your own conclusions.

53 web

Use other people’s talent scale: almost never ¼ 0 – 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 ¼ almost always

Read I use electronic alerts to signal relevant new papers I quickly evaluate a text by diagonal reading I quickly recognize bad scientific reasoning I read papers/journals outside my own field I know the impact factors of journals in my field I learn by reviewing other people’s texts Sum

Listen I listen to how things are said I listen to what is said and to what is not said I check whether I have listened well I can recognize subtle body language I really listen to other people’s feedback I listen actively to myself Sum

Ask I ask for feedback on my work I ask for feedback on my behavior I continue to ask for important open issues to be clarified I ask my audience questions during my presentations I ask other people how I can improve I ask people about their well being Sum


Share I refuse to share opinions on absent persons I share benefits with younger scientists I avoid holding a grudge when I feel I have been taken advantage of I select collaborators based on their sense of “sharing” I give uninvited, positive feedback I combine negative feedback with positive Sum

Collaborate I value collaboration with nonscientific staff I perform well in teams I let go of bad feelings about failing collaborations I’m eager to learn from other people I prepare for meetings well in advance I summarize meetings well at the end Sum

Move (on) I am eager to improve on my weaknesses I have a good sense of where the field is going I like change I carefully select future supervisors/employers I take responsibility for my career development I talk to future colleagues before making a move Sum

55 read

2.3

Read If you go to the library of an old university you will see bookshelves full of scientific journals, some with impressive volumes dating back to the early 1900s. You’re looking at the collective productivity of many people with a talent for science. You can build on this knowledge base and you will undoubtedly benefit enormously from other people’s talent – you’ll stand on the shoulders of giants. But you only have time to read a tiny fraction of all these papers. So what do you read? Where do you find it? And how do you read it? The “where to find it” is getting easier and easier. You can use modern media to select relevant papers or books in ISI Web of Knowledge, Web of Science, Scopus, Google Scholar, or PubMed. Or you can look at Faculty of 1000 Biology, Faculty of 1000 Medicine, or similar websites that list the hottest papers in a certain field. You can register to get electronic alerts of interesting new papers. Hopefully in the near future even newer informatics tools (e.g. the “semantic web”) will be able to help you. Keep an eye on these new developments. The “what to read” is actually getting more and more difficult: hundreds of thousands of science papers are published annually. You can feed the above search engines with keywords that can include scientific words, names of authors, and names of journals, and you can restrict searches to a certain period in time. So carefully select a combination of keywords

56 use other people’s talent to pinpoint papers of real interest to you. If you only get a limited set of papers, you may perhaps consider yourself a pioneer in a new field. But otherwise, you may still find yourself overwhelmed by the number of potentially relevant articles. Then try to add additional keywords: for example, search for a review article first. The authors of such reviews have read a large body of literature for you and hence you only have to read their paper (see also the anecdote in this section). Some of the cited papers may look so exciting to you that you decide to look them up as well (and to check them out before going too far on the basis of the review). It might also be a good idea to search again, but now for the newest papers written by the authors of that exciting paper. Some journals help their readers by actively scouting for such new papers. They then publish small news reports on them as a service to their readers. It may pay off to read review journals such as Nature Reviews, the Trends series, or Physical Review Letters regularly. Of course, it can also help a lot if you ask other people for their favorite papers and books. Then, finally, how do you read the selected papers? Just “linearly” reading complete texts will take you too much time. You can better read the title, the abstract, and the headers in the text sequentially or diagonally, and then look at the figures and tables. That shouldn’t take too long. At each step you can decide to continue or stop. Blame the authors if the paper is difficult to read. Print only those articles that survive your first quick scan and then use color highlighters to mark important sentences or sections or to improve transparency (e.g. highlight words like “first”, “second”, “third”). Write your notes, queries, and comments in the margins. And store the really interesting papers in a paper archive and in an electronic archive using the literature database system available in your group. You could also ask your colleagues for their speed-reading tricks.

57 read Reading should also have one important side effect: it will help you improve your writing skills. Look up articles in Nature and Science which are highly edited for readability. Nature’s website even offers advice on how to write a top abstract for your paper: read it. See the “Further reading” with website links at the end of this volume. A quick way to learn what really matters in good writing is to read a manuscript written by other people in a serious manner and write a review report on it. It will be an informative exercise, since you can then see what irritates you in the manuscript (referees will review your manuscript and be just as merciless with you) or what impresses you (imitate good examples). Make sure your review belongs to the bottom right panel in the figure below and learn to analyze other people’s review reports of your work (e.g. some long and critical reviews may actually be ill substantiated).

Long

Short

Uncritical

Critical

Inexperienced reviewer

Mostly bold, negative statements without any proof Signs of too little attention paid to the text, e.g. bad sentences

Unsubstantiated positive remarks Field where people tend to scratch each other's back

Positive and negative remarks Constructive, balanced and well substantiated by facts and additional references

FIGURE 2.2 Critical reading and reviewing: a classification of good and bad reports



I like swimming I am an exceptional guy, most scientists don’t want to be like me. Why? I read between 20 and 50 papers per day. I am extremely good at this and exploit this skill to write many review papers. One such review paper can easily save you and other people from reading 100 papers. I collect, print on paper, and electronically archive large numbers of articles. From time to time I dig into my electronic archive system to search for still unread beauties and once I found such a beauty. I was excited and looked forward to reading the paper, so I excavated the paper version from my archive. To my shock the paper version turned out to be full of highlights and written notes in the margins: I had already read this paper but nothing, not a single phrase or picture, really nothing, had been stored in my “flesh and blood” memory. What a disappointment: what you read one day is leaking away the next day. But then I realized I didn’t mind. Integrating all I had ever read to reach the ultimate conclusion or discovery would be a great endpoint, and perhaps this may eventually happen. But, more probably, reading so many papers is like swimming upstream in a river without ever reaching the endpoint. Who cares? I like swimming, and it’s fun to have double the reading pleasure from one paper. And with my review paper in your hand, you can surf the ocean of papers I’ve already read!

59 read

/

TRY THIS!

Practice critical reading

Is there a principal investigator (PI) in your group or institute who is currently working on a manuscript? I bet there is. Ask him or her for a draft manuscript or select a published paper. Read it critically and form a well-thought-out opinion about the work. Act as peer reviewer and write your short report and decide which modifications are essential before you can recommend publication of this manuscript. Try to discuss the paper and your report with the PI and your supervisor in a spirit of learning how to read critically. You may also organize a journal club session with several students and postdocs on this draft manuscript. Challenge them to write review reports and prepare for a debate. You can serve as editor-in-chief, summarize the reports, and decide which modifications are essential before you and your referee panel can finally accept the paper. You or your supervisor can invite the PI to a “Master class” session of one or two hours to discuss the paper.


2.4

Listen Listening is essential. You should listen to colleagues who present their work, to people who ask the speaker questions (or ask you if you give a presentation), to collaborators and clients and, last but not least, to yourself during your presentations, or when you take a shower. You can listen primarily in an “inquiring” and “logic” mode to acquire new knowledge, to understand someone else’s way of reasoning (what and how), or to start up discussions. It is important to realize you often interpret what you hear using your current, limited knowledge and your restricting belief of how things are or should be. Here is an interesting quote: I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant. Robert McCloskey, US State Department spokesman

You may therefore want to practice listening with an “open mind”. But how do you do this? First of all, show real interest in what you hear; that is, don’t let words come in one ear and go out the other. Secondly, be aware of the interpreter inside you. Your world map can be like a two-dimensional pancake; the other person’s may be more like a three-dimensional ball. Your internal interpreter should be prepared to prolong the normal

61 listen split-second between the incoming signal and Pavlovian outgoing judgment, so that you can change your perception or at least postpone your judgment and start asking questions (see next section). Luckily, we humans have the option to build in this extra processing step, and scientists should certainly practice this important skill. That can make listening an exciting activity, potentially raising unexpected results (e.g. synergy). But changing your perception is far from easy as the following quotes prove. They came from a person who has done the “Taste a text” exercise in the section on “Write” in the last chapter: “Very useful to see how other people reacted to my feedback on their abstract (e.g. they couldn’t abandon their jargon, even though I had asked them to do so).” “Surprisingly I reacted in the same way to other people’s feedback on my abstract (e.g. I was also quite obstinate in not replacing jargon by simpler words).” “Thanks to this reciprocal exercise I realized how important it is to really listen to other people’s feedback.” There are even more listening skills to practice. You can just listen to the words someone else says, but usually there is a lot of additional information to be gained: by listening to his or her intonation, to the information between sentences, or to what’s not said (although this is much easier for a native speaker than for someone listening to a second language). If you listen carefully you will hear whether another person presents his or her message with force and persuasiveness – or with an undertone of doubt. You must also “listen” carefully to criticisms, suggestions, and appraisals written by (peer) reviewers of your work. Take them very seriously. Blame yourself (and not the person asking the question) if someone asks a “silly” question after your talk, or if the reviewer of your report or manuscript has misunderstood your message. Don’t get entangled in an argument or

62 use other people’s talent self-justification; just use the information to significantly improve what you say or write. The words listed in the table below are an interesting source of information. Let’s take “I must” as an example. How often do you hear yourself or somebody else saying “I must go to this meeting” or “I must write this formal report”. You may want to reformulate “I must” to “I want” and check whether you (or someone else) really wants to go for a certain goal or what other action(s) would be appropriate if it remains at “I must”. Alternatively, “just accept things as they are” and “do what needs to be done”, or “understand that you really do not want to do something and need to say NO” (see the earlier section on “Prioritize”). Here are two other examples of weakening language: “I am going to try and meet the deadline” or “I hope you can help me”. This doesn’t sound too convincing; it sounds more like you are already counting on failure. On the TABLE 2.1 Reformulating weakening language

Weakening language

Positive reformulation

I must I see a problem I’m going to try I hope Yes, but. . . I doubt it It will fail I can’t. . . I find it difficult I would like. . . Maybe Basically It makes me/you make me. . .

I want I see a challenge I will do it (yes/no) I trust Yes, and. . . I’ll figure it out No learning without failures What can help me? I find it exciting I want. . . Delete! Delete! This is my reaction/my choice

63 listen one hand, this may be realistic, but on the other hand, weak language can make you lose while stronger language can make you win: a matter of focusing on the right things. You may also read someone else’s work and you may be asked to comment on it. Then listen carefully to yourself. Any feeling or first impression, in particular of happiness or frustration while reading a particular paragraph or studying figures, can be translated into useful suggestions for improvement. If you think “this part is too long”, then say so. Also say if you think “this lacks structure” or “this is pompous”. Other people’s work can also teach you how to improve or best sell your own story. Feel free to copy their layout or style of writing and avoid the things you find frustrating. You may also be asked to attend an interview as the final step in a selection procedure for a job or for funding. You’re enthusiastic about your work or proposal – that’s great, but take a moment to recognize this caveat: before you know it you may be talking at the committee members rather than with them. Monologues of 5 or 10 minutes and lengthy answers to questions make no sense at this stage. Keep it short and simple (KISS) and – above all – listen carefully to the other people’s questions and their body language while you answer. Stay in contact with yourself and your audience.


Eureka! I went to a conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, with my boss. Of course, we visited Edinburgh’s impressive castle but the conference itself also turned out to be memorable. There were many interesting talks to listen to, but one was


very special: while I listened to this talk I suddenly noticed that a trick shown on one slide could also be of enormous value for solving my own, rather different, problem. Back home this trick appeared to work fantastically, a major breakthrough in my research had been established. But now for the striking part of the story: who was this speaker at the conference? It was my own boss! Despite the fact that I was sitting next door to him on a daily basis, the conference was crucial for our communication. We had overlooked this opportunity for synergy for months, just because we weren’t talking and listening well enough.

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TRY THIS!

Leveraging listening

I invite you to practice active listening the next time you go to a meeting. Listen carefully and summarize your findings at three levels: first at a descriptive level (just reporting the facts you’ve heard), second at the empathic level (reporting on the speaker’s strengths, weaknesses, or expressed feelings), and third at the reflective level (giving your subjective opinion about the style of talking, reasoning, or the feelings that you as a listener may have). You could also organize a meeting specifically for this exercise. Invite two (or more) people for a session on active listening. One person talks for a couple of minutes about work, their personal life, or any other topic you and the other people want to hear more about. Then one of the listeners, appointed in advance, will recap the whole story, first at a descriptive level, second at the empathic level, and third at the reflective level. In the final step the speaker and the others should comment on what the listener has heard or has missed – level by level. This exercise can be continued with everyone swapping positions.

65 ask

2.5

Ask Scientists work at the frontiers of knowledge. There is a lot you want to get to understand and there are many questions you can ask. But a fool can ask more questions than a wise man or woman can ever answer. So what types of question will help you make real progress? Let’s look at two types of question: “closed” and “open”. You can ask “closed” questions to steer the direction of the discussion, or to guide the answer. For example, if you are the expert and know more about the topic than the other person, or if somebody tries to escape by giving a vague reply to your concerns. You then need to ask questions of the type “Is it more A or B, or is it something else” to get clarification (this is where you know more of A and B than the other person, and you can best put these options into words). You can ask “open” questions to give the other person freedom (and time) to answer and tell you whatever he or she wants to share with you. This type of question is often more suitable for (open-minded) exploration, broadening, or deepening of a problem. For example, ask questions of the type “Can you tell me more about. . .?” or “What do you think of. . .?”. This can lead to creative, new opportunities and can help you go far beyond what you could have achieved by asking closed questions.

66 use other people’s talent So you have asked your question and received an answer. Is this the end of the discussion or would you like to go for more debate? An answer is often the beginning of an entire story, contains many generalizations or unclarified issues. So if the answer starts with “In general. . .” or “Often. . .” then you should continue to ask with new open or closed questions; for example, “When does it happen?”, “When doesn’t it?”, and “How often does it happen. . .?”. Help the other person to formulate a more measurable, specific, and concrete answer. See the table below for more words that may trigger further questions. Continuing to ask is certainly appropriate if the assumptions and interpretation made by the other person remain unclear; in the worst case, the other person may be omitting important aspects to make things look better than they are. TABLE 2.2 Ideas for asking simple questions

Words with limited information Better, faster, more efficient, novel. . . It, they, sometimes, often. . . Everybody, never, all. . . Must, should, fits (or mustn’t, shouldn’t, doesn’t fit). . .

Continue to ask Compared with who or what? What evidence supports this? What/who/when. . . precisely? Everybody? Never? All? How do you know? What would happen if. . .?

Many young scientists find it difficult to ask questions in public. Don’t worry if you cannot come up with a clever question; just start practicing simple questions. And there are always many ways to do this. As soon as you notice that you don’t understand the other person: ask for clarification.

67 ask As soon as you hear words with limited information content (see the table above): ask for more detailed information. For example, somebody says that his method is better than another method. Then ask “How much better?” or “How did you quantify this?”. As soon as you hear weakening language (see the table in the previous section on “Listen”): ask why the person is using such language. For example, somebody says that his method basically is doing this or that. Then ask “Are you oversimplifying?” or “Are there any pitfalls which would require us to use more complex approaches?”. You can improve your skill in asking questions by actively practicing at your own department’s or group’s work meetings (see the exercise “Now you are asking” below). Ask questions, even ignorant questions or simple questions that may appear “stupid” or “silly”; it is the quickest way to becoming wiser and make progress. If you don’t understand what the other person is talking about, blame him or her, not yourself. Simple questions are not a sign of stupidity but of real interest, if you ask for clarification. You help yourself as well as the other person (and maybe several others in the audience too). Frequently check whether you correctly understood the answers to your questions, whether you have listened well enough. You can do this by starting with something like “If I understood you correctly, you’re saying/implying. . .”. But what’s also important is to ask other people to review your work critically. Be vulnerable, invite comments, and thank the people who share them with you. Never prepare presentations or a manuscript on your own: use other people’s talents. Invite relative outsiders to read and comment (even your mother or father may serve for this purpose); they can certainly point out your blind spots. Scientists are often quite good at raising questions, in finding potential holes in the reasoning. But some are just too good. It is important to realize that research is almost never complete, and that’s why there is a discussion section in a paper. Some

68 use other people’s talent scientists keep asking too many questions (of others or themselves), which can stop them from writing up their work and can really prohibit their progress. This is the flipside of being strong in asking questions.


Food for research I had met several interesting people at my first Gordon Research conference in the USA as a postdoc. This included the chair of the conference, who actually worked at a research and development department in a multinational (you have undoubtedly bought and eaten their products!). The next year I planned to go to another meeting not too far away from the company and so I decided to drop him an email and simply asked if I could come and visit them. The answer was unexpectedly positive and culminated in a one-day, superintensive, two-way exchange of information: I was given a schedule of many short meetings from breakfast (pancakes) to dinner (pizza) with lots of different researchers from the company; and all of them impressed me with their high ambition, drive, expertise, and serious involvement in cutting-edge science. I don’t think I have ever experienced another day as intensive as that one. We even set up a collaboration in which they offered me funding for the joint work (and more breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, as well as social events like baseball games). I learned how interesting it can be to work for a company. So I was glad I had dared to ask that little question “Would you be interested in my making a short visit?”.

69 ask

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TRY THIS!

Now you are asking!

Let’s practice asking questions. The next time that you will be listening to other people’s presentations, perhaps first in the rather safe environment of your group’s meetings, you will prepare and ask questions. Announce this to your team members, so that this social commitment can do the hardest work for you: not asking questions is no longer an option. But there is more to learn: the next time you give a presentation to your team members, start asking them questions. During your presentation, seek interaction with your audience: ask them whether they understand, agree, appreciate, or have suggestions for improvement. Experience that this can lead to a much more dynamic presentation – more fun for you as well as for your audience.


2.6

Share The potential for synergy between you and another person is an excellent reason to share. One plus one is more than two. So what can you share and with whom? Once you have gained some expertise in your field, you will start sharing it with other people: with students and collaborators during progress meetings, and with colleagues – some of whom may even be your competitors – at conferences. This may boost the interpersonal interaction, at least if you and the other person each commit themselves to basic rules for giving and receiving feedback (see the figure below). One of the most important rules is this: always give balanced feedback – positive as well as negative. We’re often more inclined to come up with only the negative view. See also the comments on balanced reviews in the earlier section on “Read”. In addition to expertise, there are many other things you may want to share: methods, materials, students or employees, a network of people, funding or revenues, (first) authorship of papers, invitations for presentations, ideas and opportunities, opinions on each other’s behavior, or managerial information. You may want to share such things with your students, your local or international colleagues, your boss, or interested companies. Sharing with people who are lower on the career

71 share

Giving feedback Ask whether feedback is wanted Positive as well as negative Start with positive

Receiving feedback Ask for clarifications Ask for positive and negative Do not argue

Be constructive

Do not reply with feedback

Ask for reaction

Thank for the feedback

FIGURE 2.3 Rules for sharing opinions on work and behavior

ladder than you are can greatly help them to develop their own careers: let them be first author of a paper or give a talk at a conference, even if many of the ideas originate from you. It is my firm experience that such sharing often pays off in the long run: you build up a network of collaborative people who will bring you plenty of new opportunities out of which you can select the best. Science is a heavily knowledge-based arena and people will often get back to you as the well-known expert. I am sure you will profit from an open attitude towards sharing one way or another. If you share openly with new people you may occasionally find you have been taken advantage of – how should you act then? In most cases, just be brave, walk away, and don’t recriminate, but use this important information to drop this person from your list of trusted colleagues and potential collaborators. It happens, and you do have to learn to deal with such situations; let them go rather than develop into a life-long problem within a small professional group, and learn from the experience.



Sharing unpublished results with competitors Two competing, multidisciplinary teams – one in the EU (my team), the other in the USA – working on related topics shared progress information; each wrote a paper about their mouse experiment; and they then decided to submit the two papers back-to-back to a high-impact journal. When the papers were published, it turned out that there was even a third paper accepted from another group about a similar experiment with rats, and the editors had put the common theme on the journal’s front cover, had written a one-page Editorial, and in addition had asked a well-known scientist to write a short commentary focusing on the three papers. Now these articles proved to be some of the hottest published that year – which was not even anticipated by the journal editors. These authors went on to share information and collaborated as an informal international consortium in systems genetics, which led to several more high-impact papers being published (with me as coauthor!).

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TRY THIS!

Thanksgiving

I invite you to practice “giving without expecting to receive” with other people. There are always plenty of options. Haven’t got a single idea? Then let me suggest this: send me an email ([email protected]) with your best idea on how to

73 share improve this book for the sake of future readers. You shouldn’t expect anything in return, but it may still pay off: I’ll reserve 200 words for you or for one of the other readers in the next edition of this book; I am sure you have something interesting to offer!


2.7

Collaborate The potential for synergy makes you want to collaborate with others. You can easily imagine win-win situations from multidisciplinary collaboration. You have strong knowledge in your discipline but less in other disciplines. For example, a mathematician cannot know everything about biological traits and processes in living organisms and, vice versa, the biologist will not be a star player in manipulating formulae, models, or statistical probabilities. Together, as a team, they can design, analyze, and interpret meaningful experiments. The added value of such collaboration is evident. Nowadays there is much highly relevant research taking place on the borders of multiple disciplines; for example, medicine, sociology, psychology, biochemistry, and informatics are studying certain diseases with epidemiological questionnaires and modern biomolecular technologies. Many high-impact papers in Nature and Science have long lists of coauthors from a range of disciplines. You may have a harder job to imagine the win-win situation from intradisciplinary collaboration. Your win: your colleagues can teach you things so that you become an even better expert in your field; they can help you sharpen your ideas or tease your creativity; together you can do the same job in half the time. Intradisciplinary collaboration requires a well-developed sense of “sharing” to avoid a situation where

75 collaborate people compete instead of collaborate. This competition, often driven by fear that the other may benefit more than you, can destroy the potential of monodisciplinary teams. But try and let go of your supersize ego and look at it this way: your colleague’s success is also your success. How do you set about establishing a collaboration? On the smaller scale, say when you as a student are looking for a partner to do a joint presentation or project, you just look for somebody with good skills and a matching personality. On the larger scale, say when you need partners for a multidisciplinary project, you recruit talented people by telling them about your idea and proposal, and seeing whether they react enthusiastically and contribute to the proposal with concrete (textual) comments. If you want to team up with very important people (why not?) then polish up your sales pitch first. If they believe there is something valuable in it for them, they may very well join your team. For large national or international initiatives, political reasons may require you to select your partners from different universities, countries, and companies. Once you have established a collaboration, you will have all the associated meetings to organize and will need to monitor progress. To make the most out of a meeting, particularly a meeting with a larger number of participants, you should prepare well in advance. This can save a lot of time and the frustration of being in a time-consuming meeting in which things are sometimes discussed that either don’t matter to you or which could have been handled in much less time. Below is a format that may help you make going to meetings more effective. Also make a summary at the end of the meeting. Even after attending a meeting with your supervisor, send him or her an email describing what you think the action items are. Often people are more responsive when they know written records exist; even taking notes regularly during the meetings in a meeting book helps.

76 use other people’s talent TABLE 2.3 Form for organizing meetings

Major aims and items of the meeting here Aim 1. Discuss project progress Aim 2. Create report for funding agency Aim 3. Prepare for new project Item 1 Type Time Prepared by Participants Documents Result

Description Brainstorm

Developing a Talent for Science

Developing a Talent for Science

Developing Chess Talent

Developing Leadership Talent

Developing Math Talent

A Talent for Sin

A Talent For War

A Talent for War

A Talent for Loving

A Talent for Sin

A Talent for Sin

A Talent for Murder

A Talent for the Invisible

People Power: Developing the Talent to Perform

Ron Goulart - A Talent For The Invisible

Jack McDevitt - A Talent For War

Jack McDevitt - A Talent For War

A Certain Talent

A Grave Talent

A Grave Talent

A Grave Talent

A Grave Talent

Ron Goulart - A Talent For The Invisible

A Grave Talent

A Grave Talent

A Grave Talent

Developing Women Leaders: A Guide for Men and Women in Organizations (TMEZ - Talent Management Essentials)

Developing Executive Talent: Best Practices from Global Leaders

Kindling the Spark: Recognizing and Developing Musical Talent

Developing a Talent for Science