Lightning vs. Mist
Wondering if I got sucked into some black slough of despond after all my hard work went down the drain in my last post? No? Oh well. I didn’t, so it’s alright.
Had a “lightning” meeting with my boss this morning. This seems to be his usual style — keep it short, don’t have them frequently, and leave the target student stunned. It’s a pretty big contrast from my last advisor’s style, which was more to float around the lab frequently, like a gentle mist. More like a sharp-tongued Democratic sort of mist with a strong tendency to wander from the point.
It was always a pretty sure thing that he — last advisor, whom I just decided to refer to as “B”; current boss shall be “C”, because it’s a lot easier to be unguarded when I can at least pretend that this won’t be read by anyone I work with — would stop by the lab, circle around to everyone’s desk, check in to make sure things were going well, discuss the latest results, suggest the next step, etc. All the good things an advisor ought to do, to keep all the herded cats in roughly the right direction.
As a postdoc, of course, I’m not expected to need as much direct input. And that’s what I’m generally getting — not as much direct input. “You should make some samples,” he said in passing the other day. He just doesn’t come around the lab as much at all, though. He’s much more of a Whack-a-Mole advisor — when a student pops up with a problem/question/need, solve it; else, ignore him. My MS advisor (“A”, I suppose) was the same way, which, at the time, I found exceedingly frustrating. “B” approached it more like ironing — keep smoothing out the wrinkles as they happen. (That *is* how ironing works, isn’t it?)
“A” was definitely trying to juggle too many things at once; “B” was busy but took the time to “iron”. “C” seems to be copying “A”, or at least following the same pattern, I don’t think they’ve interacted much directly. “A” is mid-career; “B” is near retirement; “C” just got tenure. “Whack a Mole” is an option for practically everything, actually, so it’s not just professors who have to deal with it.
So, the point to ponder is — how does one avoid falling into “Whack a Mole”?
