Cheerleader in chief

Have you ever left work with the feeling that you worked very hard, but you couldn't name a single thing you got done that day? Recently, it feels like every day is like that for me. If I think hard about it, I can definitely name some accomplishments - a paper got accepted, an analysis went well - but they're not actually my accomplishments; they belong to my lab members. It's official, friends, I am a real PI.

The acronym PI stands for Principal Investigator, and it's used to refer to the head of a research lab. For years, my "lab" was just me. Calvin was around when we had money for projects, and there was a volunteer or intern here or there, but most days, I sat alone in my office. Not so any more. Calvin still works primarily remotely, but he's had a 3/4 time position for the last 6 months and will have it for at least 6 months more. Kharis, Maikani, and our new postdoc, Johanna, share the other office in my lab. We have some volunteers working on the microscopes twice a week, and I still have regular remote meetings with Kimberly. In the midst of all of that is the ringleader of chaos himself, Kraken. The lab is busy these days. 

If the lab is busy, I am busy. I make a point of meeting with each lab member at least once per week so I know what they're up to and can provide advice or help with anything they need. Whereas I used to spend hours on end analyzing data and writing papers myself, I can now spend 90 minutes at a time catching up with a member of my lab and never notice the time pass. My personal balance has shifted from doing research to supervising, encouraging, and facilitating research. 

Don't get me wrong - I love this role. Actually, at Johanna's suggestion, each of us recently took a personality test to identify our strengths, and my top result was Coach. If I may quote the description, "Coaches enjoy discovering potential in other people and supporting their personal growth." That definitely sounds like a PI.

You know, I've compared academic training to an apprenticeship system before. Grad students are apprentices; postdocs are journeymen; so I guess that makes PIs the masters. The metaphor fits, but I don't very much like the term "master." In fact, commanding others is a role I'm very uncomfortable with. I would much rather lead by encouragement, facilitation, and positive relationships. Since I'm now a PI, I suppose this gives a window of opportunity to redefine the role for myself. 

My lab members have had a number of impressive accomplishments recently, so today, I collated their successes and sent the list around in a group email. I want everyone to know how proud I am of them. As PI, I reject the notion of "master" and replace it with "cheerleader in chief." I am honored to work with such an impressive group of scientists. My lab rocks.