It starts with the idea that you can and should be in charge of your own team some day. Then you take the time to understand with being a leader in physics really means, and decide that path is for you. Now what? How do you actually become a leader? Here are a few pointers from my experience:
You Do Not Need Permission
The very first thing to realize is that you do not need anyone’s permission to lead. This is a strange idea for some of us who spent decades in formal education. That system is rather heavily permission based: apply for permission to attend, raise your and wait to be called on to speak, ask if you can take an impacted course, seek approval from your committee to graduate, etc. The habits formed in those years can blind us to the fact that wherever you are and whatever you do, you always have the choice of acting like a leader or a follower. You do not need the blessing of any authority (other than yourself) to choose the path of acting like leader, which brings me to my next point.
Expect To Do The Job Before You Get The Job
A lot of people think that you need a position of authority before you can lead anyone. That way of thinking gets the typical causality exactly backwards. Most organizations will not put someone into a position of authority until they have demonstrated the ability to lead at some level. The stakes are simply too high to “take someone’s word for it” about their leadership ability. Good leadership can make a team’s results greater than the sum of the individual contributions, while bad leadership can easily destroy the team entirely.
How do you lead without the authority of a position? Just start taking initiative and building trust, influence, and your ability to persuade other people. This is the substance of leadership. Positional authority is merely its veneer. I had a group of friends in high school and college who often had difficultly deciding what to do on Saturday night. It was always a game of, “I don’t know, what do you want to do?” For most of the group members, I think this was a combination of polite deference to others and a hesitance to reveal their idea and potentially be criticized. One day, I decided that I would start going last and always put forth an idea if no one else had. Guess what happened? The vast majority of the time, we either did what I suggested, or floating the first idea prompted other concrete proposals, leading to discussion and a decision in short order. One simple change in my behavior made me de facto leader of the group, no authority or position required.
Imagine my surprise when I realized that the exact same “I don’t know, what do you want to do?” scenario plays out in the context of work all the time. So, I started applying the same strategy I had before and always put forth my ideas for solutions to problem that people were avoiding or ignoring. I become the leader (without any sort of formal authority or title) of several successful “special projects” this way. String enough small leadership successes like this together and your superiors will develop a strong desire to promote you. Here is an example of a specific work-related tactic:
Take Something Off Your Boss’ Plate
Does your boss have projects that never seem to get done? If so, then you have an excellent opportunity to show some leadership initiative. Simply ask to do the project for them and be sure to provide stellar execution. Not only will your boss love you for doing this, but the odds are good that you will become their go-to person for future projects. You want to be that go-to person in order to get on the short list for future promotion.
I followed this tactic more than once before I had formal leadership responsibility. The best example is my academic journal access project. When I arrived at a small technology company I quickly discovered that I still needed to read scientific papers, but, since the company lacked the library resources of a university, national lab, or major corporation, there was no easy way for us to access the material in an organized and copyright compliant manner. Our chief technology office (CTO) recognized this as a problem when I mentioned it to him and he put solving it on his to-do list. As a low priority, however, solving the journal access problem sat on his list for months and months without action. Finally, I convinced him to let me take on the project. I started from scratch, with no idea what a workable solution would be. As it turned out, the obvious route of subscribing to the major journals in the field is cost prohibitive and somewhat futile because our access needs are very broad. Then I discovered something called “document delivery” services (e.g. Reprints Desk). Basically, these are the commercial version of the request desk at the library: just give them a citation and their network will hunt it down and send it to your inbox. I wrote up a white paper analyzing the journal access options with my recommendation and gave it to the CTO. He approved my plan to use a document delivery provider and I worked with a vendor to get the service rolled out company wide in a matter of weeks. Was it in my job description to do this essentially administrative project? No, but it did solve a real problem and raise my profile within the company.
You probably noticed by now that becoming a leader in physics (or any field) requires you to take a lot of initiative, perhaps an uncomfortable amount. This is definitely true. It also requires grit. Remember how I thought my friends held back their ideas for a night out due to fear of criticism? Well, as leader you can rest assured that . . .
You Will Be Criticized
The leadership stories I told above were positive experiences with positive outcomes. That does not mean they were criticism free. My ideas and initiatives were (and are) criticized often and sometimes vehemently. I am of the considered opinion that no one can lead anyone (including themselves) anywhere meaningful without encountering criticism. The fear of criticism stops many people (including myself at many points in my life) from leading and doing a host of other things. Aspiring to leadership requires that you build a healthy relationship with criticism.
Criticism Can Only Stop You If You Let It
So, don’t let it. After all, criticism is either valid and therefore valuable, or ignorable noise generated by people who are probably afraid to face criticism themselves. With practice and humility, it is possible to reap the rewards of valuable criticism and ignore the rest. Not easy, mind you, but possible.
Our community (and the world in general), can use all the strong and effective leadership that it can get. If you have the talent, temperament, and desire to do the job, then I encourage you to start becoming a leader in physics today.