Read This Book BEFORE You Take The Helm
The second edition of the book, At the Helm: Leading Your Laboratory, like the first, offers a wealth of excellent advice for people starting a new career running a laboratory as well as useful advice for more established researchers. The book begins with advice on how to get a good start in a new position, beginning with the message that this is most likely to occur if you find an institution that fits your career goals. While this might seem obvious, when the job market is as tight as it is, many may be tempted to jump at the first offer they get, and this book highlights some of the many drawbacks that this might have from a career perspective. The introductory chapter also does a nice job of reviewing what can be expected from industry vs. academia jobs and describes situations where the lines between the two, or at least the historical distinction between them (e.g. greater freedom in academia), are becoming less distinct.
The second chapter and the remaining first half of the book really focuses on developing and implementing a plan to run the laboratory at the outset, to ensure that new investigators hit the ground running. It starts by suggesting that new investigators develop a five-year plan for the future including contemplating how much funding you would like to have, and how large you would like your lab to be, as well as considering what you expect your life to be like outside of the laboratory (basically how do you see your personal life unfolding). There are hints about equipping your lab and ordering before you get to your new position, defining a leadership style once you get there, establishing a laboratory culture to set the tone for the laboratory as well as tips on how to establish priorities to ensure a successful, happy and productive laboratory.
A great deal of the second half of this book, and perhaps its greatest strength, is the discussion of the challenges and rewards of mentoring students in the laboratory. This is a topic that is applicable to investigators at all levels and one that many of us confront on a daily basis. Several chapters touch on this general topic from different angles and it is the one challenge that I think that most people are either ill prepared for or never fully appreciate when starting a laboratory. Specific topics include a general discussion of what a good mentor is, suggestions for training new personnel, outlining responsibilities of the principal investigator (PI), motivating laboratory personnel and maintaining communication with the lab. Each of these areas directly defines some aspect of mentoring and they are really critical elements of a successful laboratory. Anyone having difficulty in any one of these areas, whether they are a new investigator or not, would be well served to read this book for useful suggestions.
For all of these reasons I see a real value in this book, not just for offering helpful suggestions about how to start and maintain a career as the head of a laboratory, but also simply because it covers topics that people beginning their careers may never think of, but which if carefully thought about beforehand should greatly enhance their probability of success. While I recommend this book to both new and established PIs there are even sections about sabbaticals and how to wind down your lab at the end of a successful career), perhaps the best time to read it would be well before anyone begins their first job (be it in academia or industry). As such, I recommend that this book be given as a parting gift to graduate students or read in a journal club of post-docs as there is great advice on many topics to get researchers to start thinking about their job BEFORE they get one.
