3 ms·
It's an interesting idea, but I can think of three other possible explanations for the individuals who rise to the top being the least adept at research: 1) Th
by philk 17y ago
It's an interesting idea, but I can think of three other possible explanations for the individuals who rise to the top being the least adept at research:
1) The individuals who rise to the top may be the most socially/politically able - developing these social/political skills might be time consuming, thus reducing the amount of time a particular individual has to perform research.
2) Rising to the top might saddle individuals with so many new responsibilities that they do not have the time to perform quality research.
3) People may resent others in their field who are doing better research and align against them, not because they have more opportunities elsewhere but because they resent their ability.
- yummyfajitas 17y agoMy personal theory (based on working a few years in academia) is this: 4) Good researchers usually don't want to rise to the top. Think of it this way. What would you rather do? Hacking, or preventing the university president from interfering with other people hacking while handling administrative work related to hackers performing their teaching duties? There are of course exceptions to this rule (I work for one), but they are few and far between.