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Unspoken Ways Interviewers Evaluate Job Seekers – Insights to Help You Ace Your Next Interview
Interviewers care about more than just your skills. If you want to ace the interview, do your homework so you can be explicit about three key things. 1- You have thoroughly researched the company 2- Your values align with the company culture3- The job will inspire you to do your best work Ask yourself: When in the past have you demonstrated that you live by the behavioral mindsets that matter at the company? Recall specific situations and examples that provide proof. It’s a job...
Precision at the Expense of Impact Doesn’t Help Decision Makers
"I think that the problem is that the standard of proof and the mechanisms of communications that are familiar to scientists are extremely cautious and extremely risk averse, particularly around stating best practices." Dr. Paul Glimcher In these COVID times, data is invaluable. Learning how to communicate what we do know - based on data so far - can help give assurance and inform decision making. Here's timely and sage advice from Dr. Paul Glimcher. He is a neuroscientist, psychologist, and...
How to Show Up, Speak Up and Get Your Ideas Heard – Part 2
How to Show Up, Speak Up and Get Your Ideas Heard – Part 2When it comes to getting your ideas heard, the words you choose and your timing can make all the difference. So can using influence to bring people into your ideas. In part two of this blog (read part one), you'll get practical tips on how to frame your ideas and build support for getting them adopted. “Sometimes getting your idea heard may best be accomplished by not saying it at all. Plant the seeds for your idea. Ask questions to...
How to Show Up, Speak Up and Get Your Ideas Heard
You may be surprised to find that what you say matters less than how you say it. More than 250 attendees at the annual scholarship luncheon for the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory Women's Association learned what it takes to create a strong, engaging presence and how to use voice, words and timing to gain support for their ideas. “Each of us have ideas that can add value. In science and problem solving, one idea is often built on the back of another. You never know when your ideas will...
Building Communication Skills on Campus – A Conversation with Doctoral Candidate Amber Habowski
Two pivotal experiences in high school sparked Amber Habowski’s interest in biology and her desire to communicate science clearly. She sought to understand the biomechanics of her own sports-induced knee injuries and surgeries and the neurophysiology of her grandfather’s brain after he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s. This led her to work at both the physical therapist office who treated her knee and the Parkinson’s center where her grandfather was treated. Eager to share her new-found...
Where to Learn and Practice Effective Communication – A conversation with Dr. Marian Waterman at UC Irvine
When you have been a medical school professor for 25 years, you do your share of speaking. For Marian Waterman, people tell her that scientific communication seems to come naturally. She has honed her skills teaching at UC Irvine and through ample opportunities to communicate to campus leadership, advisory boards, and lay audiences as director of the UCI Cancer Research Institute, deputy director of UCI’s NCI-designated Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and an active volunteer with the...
Becoming a Published Book Author (and a Bodhisattva)
Today our book Championing Science makes its debut. Roger and I wrote this book thinking that we would publish it ourselves. I vividly remember being in Scotland on the Isle of Skye, exploring the rocky remains of a 12th century cathedral at a cemetery, when we got cell signal. I heard the voicemail our editor had left us and shrieked with excitement as I told Roger it was official – UC Press would be our publisher. We were honored that they believed in our work and the importance of helping...
A Young Scientist Learns the Benefits of Soft Skills: A conversation with Shing Yue Sheung, COO, Navi Medical Technologies
I learned about Shing Yue Sheung from faculty at Melbourne University when they told me about their programs to help scientists lead outside the lab. Midway through my conversation with Shing, I found myself saying "If I didn’t know better, I’d think you'd already read Championing Science, but our book won’t be published until January 18th." For Shing, developing communication and emotional intelligence skills is already paying off. Here’s his story…“I never imagined I'd have the opportunity...
Storytelling for Science
We've all heard that humans absorb information quickly when it is in the form of a story. But what does storytelling mean for a scientist? It's not telling ghost stories around the campfire – it's engaging your audience's previous experience in ways that help them follow a complicated set of details. Here are some example story lines that you can use to frame your work so that listeners quickly get your point. The Predicted Outcome Audiences love this story – a predicted result, that avoided...
CNN’s Anderson Cooper Talks Climate Change Facts with Katharine Hayhoe
Dr. Katharine Hayhoe shows scientists how to answer questions to make an impact. Her televised interview with Anderson Cooper, in response to the recently published Fourth National Climate Assessment, drives home several principles for championing science. Be Human and Credible Hayhoe does an excellent job of showing up as both human and credible. She speaks about her role in creating the Climate Assessment report and weaves indisputable facts into her answers. She personalizes information...
Why Scientists Need to Become Storytellers: A Conversation with Tullio Rossi, Animate Your Science
A PhD marine biologist, with a talent for graphic design and communicating science, Tullio Rossi helps scientists get their work noticed and make a positive impact on society. In 2017, he founded Animate Your Science. His company creates video animations and infographics that are engaging, understandable, and shareable on social media. In his workshops, Dr. Rossi teaches scientists how to use storytelling to build awareness of their work. We spoke with him in his Australian home about the...
Dealing with Speaker Jitters – Eight Ways to Take Charge
It’s rare for a scientist to take the stage to deliver a presentation or sit across the table from important decision makers without being hit by an adrenaline rush. Here are eight ways you can take charge when speaker jitters hit. Use Them. The jitters give you a fight or flight burst of energy that you can put to work to make your voice louder and your gestures bigger. Let that energy shine through as the passion that inspires you to pursue your science.Dissipate Them. Shake off some excess...
Teaching Grad Students the Art of Communicating Science: Scott St. George
Sitting through overly detailed, boring conference presentations inspired Scott St.George to do his part to teach students vital science communications skills. “Frustration was a big motivator,” said St. George, associate professor of geography at the University of Minnesota. “I was fortunate to have had mentors who excelled as communicators, so I knew there was a better way.” In 2012 Scott launched a seven-week graduate seminar titled The Art of Scientific Presentations where students learn...
Use Story Structure and the ABT Model to Make Decision Makers Care About Your Science
Scientists typically spend too much time showing result after result without providing a good narrative. How many talks can you remember where there was no exposition of a fundamental gap in our scientific knowledge or rationale for why the world needs a new technology? Great talks have both—and persuasive speakers trot these points out early and then spend most of their time explaining what they, or you, can do about it. The same general principles apply in conversations. To learn how to...