Building a successful career in biomedical research has become increasingly challenging. Becoming a successful scientist in this current highly competitive biomedical field is almost a "miracle" in some ways—it is a magical blend of personality traits, productive mentor/trainee relationships, and a bit of good luck!
What are the essential personality traits?
For the trainee, there are some fundamental attributes that are hard to mentor after graduating from college. I give a "coachability score" to the following traits, with "1" being the hardest to mentor:
- Curiosity: This is an intrinsic personality trait that is impossible to mentor.
- Work Ethic: Physical and mental laziness kills quality work! Imposing lab rules might help a little but never works for projects that demand first-class performance. Work ethic is also reflected in how resilient a person is and whether a trainee has the tenacity to work towards something really hard—science.
- Empathy: One parenting book describes "empathy" as one of the most difficult skills to nurture; thus parents need to cultivate it early on. Why is it relevant in science? Empathy is the key to effective interpersonal communication. Being positive and confident in our own judgment while being open-minded and receptive to constructive criticism requires one to have the capability to truly think from a different angle, putting oneself into another person's perspective. It makes sense, right? In reality, it is extremely hard to do. How much narcissism and ego do we have? Do we truly appreciate our differences and try to learn from each other?