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by gbpz 1998 days ago
You've met Dava?
1 comments

She used to be the director of the graduate program I was in.
That's pretty cool. I feel like these people (who very smart people choose to lead), must be some next level incredible intellect.
It's a double edged sword especially in academia. People who are excellent at executing in their field of choice are not always good managers. This is a bit of a personal soapbox, but I think one of the most entrenched problems in graduate education is the assumption that someone who is promoted on their academic merit will also make for an effective advisor/lab manager/project director/etc.

Depending on what you do, you might have a natural gift or be a good learner for management skills—but you also may not. If you're not and shoehorned into it for tenure (or whatever other reason), both you and your students suffer.