About a year ago, I moved from an academic research group of ~7, embedded in a laboratory of ~60 into a company with several hundred employees. Many of the bes

About a year ago, I moved from an academic research group of ~7, embedded in a laboratory of ~60 into a company with several hundred employees. Many of the best-practices and philosophies implemented around management and process in the larger company would have been quite helpful and beneficial in my prior environment. Academia selects for science prowess first, then almost entirely through Darwinian means, management skills. That approach keeps the focus on science, which is good, but misses out so very much on knowledge that could radically accelerate research progress. An example: There is substantial focus in good research groups on mentoring good technical writing and science presentation skills. I had never encountered formal mentorship on concepts as basic as, "Okay, here's how to run a meeting in a way that ensures all necessary topics are addressed, everyone gets their say, action items will actually happen, and the meeting will end on time." My mentors probably hadn't gotten that sort of mentorship either -- we each learned simply from what we'd seen work effectively. A functioning industry group simply can't operate without that sort of fundamental skill.