by Robert In ‘The Matrix’, Neo struggled greatly with the decision of whether to take the red pill or the blue pill. I think we’ve all had those moments when it was difficult to make a decision. When scrolling through the Internet, you often come across statements like “We make at least 20,000 decisions every…
By Robert Do you enjoy sweets? If so, you may “want” them, but surely you don’t “need” them. Some may challenge this notion, and I admit, I’m also not sure if my first coffee in the morning is really just a “want” and not a “need”. But let’s stick with the sweets example. Imagine you…
by Robert In academia, the pressure to excel is omnipresent. Achievements, publications, grants, and recognition often seem to dictate the rhythm of our lives. Yet, in this pursuit of excellence, our mental health can take a backseat—an oversight we can hardly afford. Today, I want to discuss how we can deal with multiple projects and…
By Robert Have you and your team ever found yourselves in these scenarios? All these situations lead to panic before deadlines, creating stress and long work hours. Planning Poker is a simple yet extremely effective tool. It might help you leverage a force that prevents the situations described above: the collective intelligence of your team. …
By Stefanie A confused team will never be able to reach its full potential. Confusion results in time loss, dissatisfaction, and sometimes a paralysis within the team that endangers the success of the entire team. Therefore, one of the first points we look at when working with teams is how much clarity they have on…
by Robert Do you expect to get physically fit or stay fit without any training? Certainly not! It’s clear to all of us that if we want to improve our physical condition, we must work on ourselves. And it’s not enough to go to the gym once a year or maybe once a month. We…
by Robert Imagine you’re sitting in the hot seat on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” and you’re faced with the million-dollar question: “To succeed as a Principal Investigator (PI), you must be a good…” A: Advisor. B: Mentor. C: Coach. D: Trainer. Whichever option you choose, you’re correct! As a PI, you’re expected to…
by Robert Did you know that this famous phrase from the movie “Apollo 13” was actually modified from the original? Pilot Jack Swigert actually said, “Okay, Houston, we’ve had a problem here.” Changing it to the present tense was intended to make it sound more dramatic for the film. Now, let’s talk about our “problem.”…
-By Robert Our work as researchers and scientists is defined by two types of thinking: analytical/convergent and creative/divergent. On one hand, we need to produce through logical, linear processing, for example when we analyze data or deal with administrative stuff. To get through these tasks quickly and with as high quality as needed, we require…
By Stefanie & Robert “Sometimes, as a leader, you have to dine alone in the cafeteria without your team.” I (Robert) remember one of my superiors saying this when I worked in the corporate world and I experienced this “lonely” aspect of being a leader often. It underscored one leadership principle: When you step into…