So, Friday night real talk for a minute. We don't hear enough about what being a PI is actually enough when doing our PhDs and postdocs.
First disclaimer is, I absolutely love being a new PI. I find it immensely rewarding, and I'm very well supported with close to no admin or teaching. So it could be a lot harder than what I am about to describe.
I also did not enjoy the drag race of postdoc that much. The freedom and research focus yes, but I found the grind tedious toward the end. I actually like research leadership more than being a late stage postdoc.
But with that said, I wonder sometimes how many young researchers out there are grinding away towards a position they may not have considered if they will actually enjoy.
That's not on them - it's on us for not talking enough about the realities of being a PI. I worry about people who seem to want a staff scientist job (of which there should be 100x more), but end up as PIs. A lot of potential for misery there - for you and the trainees.
Being a PI involves so many skills - especially social skills - that most of us don't really get that much experience with as trainees. For many it's a relatively lone wolf research life until suddenly, bam you get a grant or position. Let's talk about those demands.
1. Politics. As a PI you are no longer a lone wolf. You are trying to keep your people motivated, equipped, and well supported. That means dealing with departmental/etc politics to shield them, protect your equipment time, guard your physical space, and so much more.
The best policy with politics is usually to try and stay out of it, trust. But ultimately as the group leader you are going to have negotiate the egos of other PIs, admins, and colleagues to help your group run well.
And that is already something I think blindsides many. I expected it to a degree, but not that it would be a ln almost daily thing. But it is. Most of it is pretty boring stuff, but you need a lot of people skills and impulse control to navigate through those waters.
2. MEETINGS. Yeah, you had meetings as a trainee, but this is different. This is days where you arrive at 9 and leave at 6, having gone from back to back non-stop meetings, one after another. Some weeks you might do this repeatedly. Maybe every day. It can be exhausting.
Exhausting like, your social brain AND your working memory feels like it melting out of your ears, but you still gotta show leadership, help make decisions, and keep things running smoothly. Again, it takes a heck of a lot of people skills, patience, and attentiveness to others.
3. Decisions. You are the decider. The buck stops with you and your lab's ultimate bottleneck will be your ability to process new information, listen to your team, and make good, rapid decisions.
A big category of these is delegation. As a new PI you are probably going to want to do almost everything yourself. You might even feel ashamed to let someone else code something or write something. After all, you were just a postdoc! But you have to learn to delegate and fast.
And that is really something you can only learn through experience. Some stuff can't be delegated, and other stuff absolutely must be. The worst is if you end up micromanaging your team and limiting them. It's so easy to end up getting in their way or undermining their talents.
So once again, it brings us back to people skills. Making good decisions as a team leader requires being able to communicate what you want, listen to your peers, colleagues, and trainees, and trust them enough to know what you can and cannot delegate.
Add on to that a huge dose of humility. The buck stops with you. If you are repeatedly blaming your team, look inward. Sometimes I hear stories about PIs who frequently scold or yell at trainees & I just think this is a person who was not ready to be a team leader. It's on you!
4. Mentorship and leadership. As a PI you need to be nurturing the people in your lab. They will have all different skill sets and weaknesses, and they look to you for guidance. Ego tripping, pride, or a lack of compassion sour that well. You cannot be toxic.
Being able to bring a diverse set of people together and get them to work as a cohesive unit requires serious empathy and listening. You also need to know your own story, where you are going. You have to be confident, but flexible. Lead by example, don't demand stuff.
Now that I have a lot of peers making the transition to being a PI, it strikes me how actually terrifying it can be when you first start mentoring people. Suddenly you are sat across from someone running a meeting, and it can feel like a huge wtf moment.
It's totally normal to feel nervous though. When in doubt, I always think about what Captain Picard would do. Communicate your needs and thoughts clearly. Use restraint when appropriate; their morale is important too. Trust, but also lead. Work that social brain!
Anyway, I'm far from the world's greatest PI or anything, but I'm having a really great time with it so far. It's stressful as hell sometimes, but the rewards of mentorship and leadership are immense. But it's definitely not for everyone, so the more we talk about it, the better.
The number one best advice I can give for any aspiring PIs is to start mentoring trainees as early and as often as possible. Take on bachelor's or master student theses. Cosupervise PhDs. Mentor junior students in your lab. Every little bit of experience will help.
I was super lucky to have a lot of these opportunities, even as a PhD student. And also very lucky to have some immensely helpful mentors of my own. I have not figured it all out, but lately I feel in my stride even with all the insanity of the world. Hang in there!
Sigh. Of course the parent tweet has a massive autocorrect typo. I even proofread the thread! "We don't hear enough about what being a PI is actually like..."
Oh, I forgot perhaps the most important part. GRANTS. You are going to become a grant writing machine. You will write grants you didn't even know you wanted. You will be like this robot in Rick and Morty, but for writing grants. Learn to love it.
I think a lot more could be said about mentorship and leadership, definitely an entire other book of threads there. worth mentioning you need to think about power relationships, diversity, and your trainees needs as individuals.
When peoples livelihood depends in part on you, that is a lot of responsibility. You need to be sensitive to that. Get yourself a lab manual, listen to others, and think about your privilege. Be like spider man - with moderate power comes great responsibility. /Fin.
