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This is a really excellent summary. I'd like to add though, that the 'people stuff' you mention - which I think you are spot on about - continues after the PhD
by blackkettle 12y ago
This is a really excellent summary. I'd like to add though, that the 'people stuff' you mention - which I think you are spot on about - continues after the PhD; and furthermore it is a fact of life in nearly every other mildly competitive sphere you might decide to participate in, in nearly any area of personal or professional life.
One of the most important lessons I learned was how to spot different kinds of pathological personalities from a distance.
This is a really, really painful - but invaluable - skill to acquire and I am firmly convinced it can only be learned through the school of hardest-knocks.
- rwallace 12y agoThere is some truth in what you say, but I disagree with your last point. It doesn't have to be learned in the school of hardest knocks. In particular, learning from experience is best done in a context where experience doesn't cost too much, where you have room to maneuver; in this case, you're better off learning how to deal with pathological personalities in a commercial environment where you have much more freedom to walk away than you do in academia.
- drdeadringer 12y ago> how to spot different kinds of pathological personalities from a distance Could you expand upon this? What catches your eye, what do you "look for?"