young PhDs in the workplace

Nigel Goodwin said:

My daughter went to York (5th in the UK for Chemistry at the time, and top for females in Chemistry), and is now at Durham for her Phd.

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What gender has to do in all this, Nigel?

atferrari said:

What gender has to do in all this, Nigel?

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Nothing at all, it was just a mention of the particular ranking - where York was ranked 5th in the UK, but ranked 1st for females in Chemistry (and still is, as far as I know).

The EEOC (U.S.) tracks all the equal opportunity metrics. I'm sure there is a British equivalent. Nigel has a right to be proud of his daughter. Good for her.

John,

I believe she was "selected" as the chair even after this incident. I don't know if she picked up the Excel portion of the class or not.

The sword of Damocles hangs over most leaders heads. It is great to have the title and some must bear great responsibilities with their title.

JoeJester said:

And engineers get replaced when they can't deliver on the clients expectations.

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This all certainly applies to engineers too. The same process happens everywhere. Creative people get replaced with people posessing correct skills, or, more precisely, with people who have documents proving that they have correct skills.

Apple is a well known example. Steve Jobs started the company and it was doing very well. Apparently, he had a vision. However, the board wasn't happy because he didn't have management training and his people skills were poor. So, they hired a well trained and qualified CEO with all the correct skills. Shortly after, they fired Steve. Apple tumbled and would be bankrupt by now. As we know after few years Steve bought back the company and it grew to be the biggest company in the world.

Looking back to the board decision, there's no doubts that Steve's vision was much more valuable than the new CEO's qualification and skills. Yet, the criteria that are applied to people - teachers, engineeers, managers - get more and more formal over the years.

Community colleges often depend on experts from within the community to round out their staffing needs. I do not know if that was the case here. But they are often lucky to find someone qualified enough.

Community colleges often depend on experts from within the community to round out their staffing needs. I do not know if that was the case here. But they are often lucky to find someone qualified enough.

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There are adjunct professors who make their living as adjunct professors ... teaching at a lot of colleges in the area or are you suggesting a different source of professors?

The adjunct professor knew he wasn't qualified when he accepted the position. The interim Chair failed to ensure the person was qualified to teach the course. I place more blame on the professor for the unethical behavior, especially in the light he stated at the start of the class he didn't know Excel and they won't be using it. This incident was over a decade ago in the State of Michigan, and I haven't researched the requirements for someone to be a adjunct professor at the community colleges.

I agree with you Northguy with respect to Steven Jobs. Your only assuming those that replaced him acquired the requisite skills, whether or not they were demonstrated prior to replacing Jobs, I don't know. There is still a premium put on the "sheepskin's locale."

We will have to see if Apple can survive without Steve Jobs, as there is no way he will be returning to Apple. Steve was passionate about his "baby." The current crop's agenda may not be visionary in nature, just as those who replaced Steve many years ago. Without the passion exhibited by Jobs, Apple would not have recovered. We may be witnessing history repeating itself as time will tell.

Looking back to the board decision, there's no doubts that Steve's vision was much more valuable than the new CEO's qualification and skills. Yet, the criteria that are applied to people - teachers, engineeers, managers - get more and more formal over the years.

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Hindsight is always 20-20.