Collegiality

At work, at least in our workgroup, everyone is very cooperative, that is, the scientists hardly ever make decisions without consulting each other extensively. Ed, though, the most senior among them (us), has said he wants to be sure I know that as PI of my grant, I get to use my own judgment. Today he was giving me some feedback on part of my pilot study plans that was going counter to how I thought things should be done, so I stopped by his office to talk it through with him a bit further. After a bit, he agreed that my perspective was reasonable, and gave some input on another part, which I agreed made sense and said I would get other people’s input on too. Then I headed out the door.

A minute later, Ed came running after me, wanting to make sure I realized that, as he put it, “In your position, you don’t have to care what I say, you know.” Amusing... how often does one work with a senior person who goes out of their way to say you needn’t listen to them?

(Meanwhile, today I reached a minor milestone on a writing project... details will come much later.)