An Academic’s Guide to Leadership in the Lab

Jand Heemstraa chemist at Washington University in St. Louis, loves to build new molecules. A self-described “biomolecular engineer,” Heemstra excels in applying chemistry and biology principles to unite compounds with new functions. When she started her own lab, she drew parallels between the work she enjoyed and the excitement in building a brand-new research group.

However, one thing soon became apparent: While she had developed the skills to write successful grants and design thorough experiments, she never learned how to lead a group. Through independent study and trial and error over 15 years as a principal investigator and more recently a department chair, Heemstra gradually added the art of leadership to her academic toolbelt.

Having finessed her own leadership skills, but recalling the struggles along the way, Heemstra chose to write a resource for others on how to build these skills. In her book, Labwork to Leadership: A Concise Guide to Thriving in the Science Job You Weren’t Trained Forpublished on August 5, Heemstra shares her insights and experiences in learning how to effectively communicate, resolve conflict, and more. She hopes anyone who finds themselves needing some help in leading others can benefit from reading it.

Becoming an Accidental Leader

Oftentimes, leadership in academia is attributed to the people heading departments or universities. However, in Heemstra’s experience, this quality is inherent to being a professional researcher running a lab as well. But group leaders often find themselves underprepared.

“As scientists we’re trained to be researchers, and so we learn research, and research, maybe a little teaching along the way, and more research. And then often we get promoted into positions, whether that’s a faculty position or being a team leader in industry. And then you find yourself with this leadership job, but you weren’t necessarily prepared for that,” Heemstra said.

She experienced this feeling firsthand. Starting her first lab, Heemstra recalled standing in the empty room imagining filling it with people doing research, publishing papers, and securing grants. She wasn’t thinking about being a leader.

That was until she learned about a conflict that was dividing members of her lab. Completely unprepared, Heemstra recalled searching Google for advice on conflict resolution. A half hour of frantic reading and one awkward lab meeting later, she had resolved the issue, albeit not perfectly, she admitted.

This experience opened her eyes to the reality of her position. Where she thought she was simply a researcher and research mentor, she realized she had also accidentally found herself in a leadership position.

“I realized, ‘Oh, wow. There is a set of skills that I need, and I don’t have,’” Heemstra said. “I had these amazing leadership role models, who imparted a lot of wisdom and ideas and inspiration for how to be a leader. But I also realized that there’re some skills that you don’t necessarily learn just by watching someone.”

Heemstra jumped into reading as many books and listening to as many podcasts on leadership as she could find. She learned how to properly address and resolve conflicts, provide feedback, and communicate expectations. “I haven’t mastered it, but I’ve been able to build a sufficient level of skill,” Heemstra said.

Writing a Guide to Academic Leadership

Roughly seven years ago, while talking about leadership skills and practices, a member of Heemstra’s research group told her she should write a book on the topic. When Heemstra started thinking about what she may add to the subject, she realized that a lot of the material wasn’t focused on leadership in academia. Additionally, while she enjoyed diving into the content around leadership, the resources she found were spread across many mediums that busy faculty members may not feel they have the time to find and review.

“I realized that a place where I could possibly have impact was say, ‘Okay, I really love reading these things, and I’ve kind of made all of these mistakes that others might be able to learn from and learned a lot of lessons and experimented a lot along the way.’ And so, I would be excited to write this book,” Heemstra said.

With this realization, Heemstra started planning her book, creating an arc that she described as a three-course meal. The first and second parts she said, featured advice on how to be a leader for oneself as well as to others, respectively. “What got me really excited to write the book was the dessert that maybe nobody would necessarily be looking for in a leadership book, but really excited me, which is developing future leaders,” Heemstra said.

After the COVID-19 pandemic and then a move to a new university with more leadership responsibility derailed her original timeline, Heemstra finally finished her guide for leadership in academia. She crafted it as a summary of much of the information she found across several places, her own experiences, and actionable steps for readers to immediately take to begin building their leadership skills.

“Anyone who’s in a leadership role or thinking of being in one, there are people who are counting on you to be an outstanding leader,” Heemstra said about the importance of developing leadership skills. Although more resources are available for early career scientists now, Heemstra acknowledged that these are still not widely available.

She hopes that her book can serve as an accessible and relatable resource for researchers, as well as anyone else looking for a comprehensive guide on how to be a good leader. Leading up to her book’s release, Heemstra recalled feeling excited and also grateful for the people who helped bring her ideas into a physical reality. “It’s the book that I would have wanted to have when I was a brand-new faculty member,” she said.