Learn the basics for a career transition from research into business &
get to know companies which hire people with a doctor title!
Episode 0017 Shownotes
Tame your fears before leaping into business (part 2 of 2)
Do you fear sacrificing passion when you leap into business after your PhD or postdoc? Do you ask yourself, whether career growth is equal for you as an underrepresented, underprivileged & underserved human? Do you fear the cultural adjustment at a business workplace? In this episode you'll learn in part 2 of 2, how to tame your fears before leaping into business. Maybe you fear losing your academic credibility, making the wrong decision or of not finding (enough) purpose. Maybe you are anxious about the fast-pace or too steep learning curves in business. Or you are anxious about losing autonomy or disappointing expectations.
Listen to Prof. Dr. Eleonore Soei-Winkels as she shares actionable tips regarding these fears in this episode of the weekly PostdocTransformation show.
Subscribe to our weekly show on your favorite podcast platforms: Why? Postdoc scientists & PhD students / candidates will learn the basics for their career transition from research into business & industries AND will get to know a company that hires early career scientists!
Enroll in your free email course for your career transition into business! Especially emails no 2 & 3 focus on creating a LinkedIn profile and using LinkedIn to network for your career transition!
Sacrificing passion & limited career growth as an underprivileged, underrepresented and underserved human
Hello, PostdocTransformer! This is part two of how to tame your fears before leaping into business. [00:01:00] I want to let you know that this is the second part. So, the first 10 fears landed in episode 16. And now let's dive right in into fears, number 11 to 20.
Number 11, which is the fear of sacrificing passion. And that is maybe when you are concerned to not pursue your own passion or your research interests in a business setting.
And I get that. All of my jobs didn't draw on my research interests. And the question is, is that enough or not? To be honest, after five years in IT, I was bored intellectually and I kept thinking about the brain. And that's why I picked up a side gig as a lecturer in bio-psychology at the university that I'm working at now as a professor.
I understand this. [00:02:00] My passion was to teach. And in my role as an IT strategy consultant, I could be teaching as well. I could be mentoring, I could be coaching, but I wouldn't be teaching in an academic setting. And I love working with curious minds, with curious young students who were able and want to change the world.
That was one of my passions. And I'm a passionate people developer, so you could do this as a side gig as well. Or you find roles where you can do this, at least in some capacity.
If you want to learn more about how I capitalized on my PhD as a mom, professor and business owner, listen to this episode!
Alright, so let's move on to number 12. Fear of limited career growth. And maybe you are worried as a woman, as a person of color, as a young or an old person who, depending on whether you are a professor, a postdoc, or a PhD, maybe you are worried about hitting a glass ceiling, or [00:03:00] encountering fewer opportunities for career advancement.
And I would say it's a mix. Compared to academia, there are many more opportunities for your career because you can have one role in different companies in different industries across many countries. That's absolutely different to that one postdoc, that one professorship, that really allows you to create your research vision. So, you have much more opportunities.
And then on the other side, yes, there is a glass ceiling and I've been working on diversity committees. I've been miss diversity, whatever. I mean, there were articles about me because I'm a woman, I'm a person of color, I'm a mom, blah, blah, blah, with a doctor title, successful, blah, blah, blah. So, there are some glass ceilings, I've seen [00:04:00] also for my colleagues, also for people who I thought were absolutely deserving to advance, but they did not advance because of. I don't wanna discourage you, but I instead, I want to refocus you and reframe that to, even if you hit the glass ceiling, the life that you are able to finance with your salary when you are in the vicinity of those glass ceilings is so much better than the salary that you are earning in academia. So, when you look at the bigger picture, it's a mix of limited career growth opportunities. For one, there are more than there is a glass ceiling, yes. But the glass ceiling is always also in academia. And you have the better salaries that can sweeten the [00:05:00] limited career growth opportunities in business.
Fear of cultural adjustment &
losing academic credibility
Okay, so fear number 13. Fear of cultural adjustment. And that means maybe you are anxious to adapting to a different work culture or to adopt new norms in the business world because that also means that you are changing. Okay? So, the question behind that is, you've been someone who has identified up until now as a researcher and that comes as a package with, you know, whatever you associate with that.
When you go into the business world, that changes and how much does this change you? And I would say that from a psychological perspective, me before becoming a mom, me before leaping into business, these were all changes that I made according to my own personality that did not [00:06:00] change me as a person, I behave differently, I matured, but my personality persists.
So, if you are fearing that it changes you, then look out for those roles that are suitable for you, according to your personality. And you'll be fine.
Hey, do you need a well-paid job in business aligned with your vision of life? As soon as possible, you don't have access to a supportive career guide at your graduate school, then this is for you. I know that leaping out of science can be lengthy, full of misconceptions and scary without experience guidance.
And maybe you already know how it feels to get rejections on non-academic job applications. So wouldn't it be comforting to have me by your side so that you can land your [00:07:00] future approved job? Imagine the feeling of getting job interview invites after you submitted a winning CV cover letter and sustainably rock your LinkedIn.
Do you wanna become confident through my interview and contract negotiation rehears? With me, you can confidently fine tune suitable roles, working conditions, benefits, and compensations. This PostdocTransformer bundle is the first time that I ever offered and it grants you 24 7 axis to the two E-courses career transition into business and digital personal branding that are usually exclusively offered at graduate schools.
Now you can share all your job application, material and questions as many as you like, and I will answer via exclusive video lessons sent to you via email within 24 hours. So subscribe until you start your [00:08:00] job and you don't need me as your career transition guide anymore. How would you feel to be able to worry free, pay all your running bills and reduce your student debts as you earn 60 to 125 K annual s?
Remember, every month without a well paid job, worsens your financial situation so it takes longer to become financially stable. Also, receiving too many rejections for your job applications after your PhD will reduce your chances to get a job aligned with your vision of life. So subscribe to your monthly PostdocTransformation bundle for your guided career transition into business now.
Number 14, which is fear of losing academic credibility. And maybe you are concerned about how to leave academia and what that means and how you will be seen [00:09:00] and recognized or not anymore by your colleagues. And this is like when you are in the hot air balloon. Don't think about the people who are left on the ground.
Okay? Maybe they never want to leave. Maybe they want to leave, but we're not bold enough. Maybe they don't want you to succeed. Maybe they just don't care. How about not caring about them anymore? Okay? You need to think about yourself and your future that lies ahead, and you need to design that transformation. You can care about those who are dear to you and for whom you are important. But is it really necessary that every one of your co-authors or at graduate school, your professors and everyone thinks highly of you? They [00:10:00] cannot appreciate your new adventures, your new achievements, your new accomplishments. They won't be able to recognize and to appreciate this because they never went there.
Fear of making the wrong decision,
of not finding (enough) purpose
in a fast-paced business world
Number 15, and that's the fear of making the wrong decision.
I think the question starts way before, because when you decide to leap out of science, that means you are questioning your life choice of becoming a PhD in the first place, and then now you're trying to correct that case. You're trying to correct that in the sense of finishing or even stopping to pursue the PhD and to leave into business right away.
For your own personal closure, I would suggest to just get the PhD. And the grade is [00:11:00] irrelevant, but instead it's simply finished. You will always regret not having finished a PhD. So, I would say from a learning perspective as a psychologist, there are no wrong decisions.
And maybe while you are leaping, you are regretting it because you don't see the quick successes, but also maybe you see a lot of challenges and obstacles on your way. And I want to assure you that every career transitioner, every single one, walks through all the learning curve that you are facing during the transition.
Okay? A transition, a transformation is never easy. And if you expect yourself to be as [00:12:00] successful as before from the get go, that's setting up yourself for failure. And this is a, this is a decision where you cannot expect and to yield success immediately or within weeks. It's more or less a transition time of months, I would say maybe a year until you feel safe and successful.
And did you know that I offer deep dive E-course workshops and memberships at graduate schools, maybe also at yours in the future? Ask your graduate school coordinator whether they want to book my services so that I can deliver them to you 24 7 365 on your mobile device.
Let's move on to number 16, which is the fear of not finding purpose. And that's a big one, [00:13:00] right? So, especially in your generation when you are younger than me. My students, at least my bachelor and master's students, most of them want to have a bigger purpose.
And to be honest, I'm also purpose driven. So the reason why I'm happy as a professor is because I help my students to become the best versions that they can be and to mature in their personality, but also in their professional identities and to serve in their companies for their successes. Right? So, I'm transforming people.
I'm a people developer, and that is also one of the most important agendas that I had when I was a leader in business. I understand that if you have a purpose, then you want to fulfill that. But you can fulfill that in business as well. You just have to find the right roles, the right companies, the right industries, and that's why it's so important that you make your homework first.
I see a lot of [00:14:00] PhD students and candidates who are preparing their leap in a way that, you know, I don't care what job at, I don't care what job, hopefully it just pays my bills so that I can, you know, leap into business as such. And that can be a successful strategy, but it doesn't have to be. I was simply lucky to have found my first job in business, to be something that inspired me to learn more, to dig deeper into IT, and also into business.
All right. Number 17, fear of the fast-paced environment. So, if you are anxious about the high pressure, fast paced nature of the business work, then it's only a matter of how can you cope with that, because it will be probably hitting you as well. So, if you are looking at business from a scientist's perspective, then it will feel more like gut feeling, like working with [00:15:00] too little data, too few insights, and it won't make you feel comfortable because it's not data driven.
For me, it was like when I was working in IT and business, the challenges came from different angles at the very same time. And you had no time to dive deeper into the data or so. But my boss, my leaders asked me for, shall we go left or right? And I had them to, to shoot an answer, and that was that.
That was more like gut feeling to me. And I didn't like that from a scientist's perspective, but this is how business works, right? They try and fail and try and fail and try and fail. And that's a faster agile movement than in science.
Fear of too steep learning curves &
losing autonomy
Number 18, which is the fear of steep learning curves. Well, I'm not sure whether that really is a fear because for me it's a promising prospect. It depends on your personality, but when I excel at something, I'm bored. So, I [00:17:00] always find a new challenge for me and have a new steep learning curve. And if you think that you want to keep what you have acquired, you don't unlearn unlearn, you don't want to reskill, you don't want to upskill in new dimensions, then you shouldn't leap.
So, number 19 is the fear of losing autonomy. And yeah, maybe you are concerned about losing your control, using your power, and that you have to be dependent now in business for your decision making. And I agree to that, in business, I was so dependent on the people that is my supervisor, my leader, my clients, my team, whoever was I had to ask. I was dependent on information or I was dependent on execution.
This is different in academia. As a professor, I'm [00:18:00] independent. No one tells me what to do. I'm the one who says no or yes on my behalf. And the others will have to, you know, deal with that. But that's a different thing, when you are doing a PhD. Use that as a learning situation. When you go into business, maybe you will find interdependencies, which you also have now as an PhD student. So, maybe this is transferrable for you to see how you were able to cope in your research team and how you can then cope in your business teams.
Fear of being undervalued
Fear number seven is fear of being undervalued. And maybe that is because your self-worth is tied to the title that you hold. That means maybe it's so important for you that you have reached a bachelor and master and a PhD that, you want to be seen and recognized as the expert, as someone who knows a lot of information on that topic.
I've seen this kind of trait with [00:17:00] people who like, yes, I'm a university professor. I am a. Professor who has habilitation and everything like that. So, they do differentiate between the different professor titles, doctor titles and stuff like that.
But actually, in business, no one knows. No one cares and they don't care about whatever background you have. But instead, they care about the contributions that you are able to do towards the business objective. Towards the business goals, right?
So yeah, for this fear of being undervalued, I would suggest to you to think about who you are without the doctor title, who you are without the master and the bachelor. For me, it was a good thing to not use my PhD officially in the first couple of years in business because I wanted to be seen as [00:18:00] someone who is eager to learn to, who is humble and eager to learn new things. And I didn't want to intimidate my colleagues because I saw that some of them knew or saw that I have a doctor title and they treated me differently.
And my power of the role was in stark contrast to my doctor title, right? So, I had a role that was usually filled with people who are fresh from college. So even though I had a doctor title that didn't mean that I was the boss or the leader of the project. And I've seen colleague also started just like me, from academia right after the PhD. And that person really had trouble. She always stated that she's also a doctor. Why is only the leader of the unit is called a doctor, but she is not called a doctor. She introduced herself with the doctor title. And in business that felt [00:19:00] intimidating for most of the people that I knew. So, I urge you to think about how important it is for you to have reached the DR title and to be recognized by others. Or is your own recognition for your own achievements enough? And, that's an ego question, right?
My personal fear - maybe yours, too?
All right, now we're talking about my own personal biggest fear, and that is about the fear of disappointing others expectations. So, I was worried of not using my full potential. I'm privileged to have parents who are smart and so I [00:20:00] inherited their intelligence. I was always best in high school.
I was really good in my university degrees, and I was awarded junior research awards, and I always thought that I should become a professor. everyone was expecting me to become a professor, so my parents, my peers, and everything like that.
So for me to say that I'll be leaving all this behind, knowing that I'll start a job where a master's degree is not necessary, I felt disappointment hitting me hard. It was really a tough time for me. I felt Disappointing my parents so much because they have come to Germany from Indonesia [00:21:00] to allow us to have a better life.
Hey, have you found this episode so far helpful for yourself? Well, maybe you can subscribe and also share this episode with your PhD bestie because that would encourage us to help the underprivileged, underrepresented, and underserved early career scientists leaping into business. And now back to the show.
My dad became a surgeon. My mom became a pediatrician. She also has a medical doctor title. And for them it was always clear that I would study. They were proud of me of having a doctor, but they also saw me becoming a professor.
I felt that they wanted me also to become a professor, and I know that they were so proud of me to return to academia. But it was so important for my own personal development to break out of these expectations and to [00:22:00] start something new and to make it my own way instead of continuing their way.
So, I urge you to think about your vision of life. It's no one else's vision of life. It's your vision of life. If you don't know what your vision of life is, then I urge you to listen to episode number one of the PostdocTransformation show, where I talk about the readiness to leap out of science. And I think point number eight is about the vision of life.
This is the North Star insight in my coachings so that you know for what you are doing your PostdocTransformation.
So, these were 20 fears, and I hope that you have identified some of these fears and now know what you can do about them so that you can reflect without fears [00:23:00] about leaping into business or not. You have to lose your fears to decide unequivocally for your situation.
Untill the next episode,
Cheers,
Eleonore & Team PostdocTransformation
Enroll in your free email course for your career transition into business! Especially emails no 2 & 3 focus on creating a LinkedIn profile and using LinkedIn to network for your career transition!
PostdocTransformation Show mug (buy 1 or get 3 for FREE)
Yeah, you are a grateful listener of our PostdocTransformer Show!
Do you want to support us in our mission to support underserved, underrepresented and underprivileged early career scientists in leaping into business?
Well, then get 3 mugs for free (we cover the costs and shipping), and you place them at your grad school and/or lab kitchen for your PhD peers. Just enter "3mugs" and "freeshipping" and you'll get a 100% discount. Thank you for investing your time into our PostdocTransformation!
