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No time to be an Emerging Leader?
How was I going to convince my mentor that spending 25+ hours on my professional development would be a good idea–especially considering that it would take away from time in the lab? The email from Graduate Student Affairs promised that the opportunity would “develop participants’ leadership, professional adaptability, communication, self-awareness, and interdisciplinary teamwork skills, preparing them to become successful employees after graduation.” But how could I sell that to my mentor, who was likely more concerned about my success prior to graduation? (more…)
Helping our program help us with career development
My graduate career has been a bit bumpy (although whose hasn’t!), and during my 3rd-year slump, I spent a lot of time asking myself if I really wanted a PhD. By having to face this question, I realized very quickly that I had no idea what a PhD could do for me. I knew I wanted out of academia, but what else was there? (more…)
Who leads a group of emerging leaders? Reflecting on the Emerging Leaders Institute group project
Melissa Bostrom sold me on applying to the Emerging Leaders Institute (ELI) with one word: “deliverable.” The program included many attractive characteristics: leadership training, self-assessments, and coaching. However, from the beginning I was focused on the group project – not simply as an exercise in working with others but to develop a concrete product that I can reference in future interviews as a significant accomplishment from those six weeks.
In the end, I got both – a learning experience in working with a team and a product that exists in the real world. (more…)