Research, Technology, & Teamwork blog by Susie Wee

» "Learning" as a New Year's Resolution

Here's a little tip for setting goals and resolutions that will last you a lifetime...

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Posted by Susie Wee on Monday, December 31, 2007 at 12:41:00 PM

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» Clashing leadership styles

We all know that leadership is important for your career, but it's so hard to make tangible. Here is a list of four leadership styles. But, what happens when these different leadership styles need to work together?

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Posted by Susie Wee on Sunday, September 16, 2007 at 4:48:00 PM

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» Deceit, trickery, encouragement, and teamwork

I somehow got mixed up with a bad crowd- a very bad crowd- a trail running crowd. These people are crazy. They are full of deceit and trickery. And yet they make a great team...

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Posted by Susie Wee on Sunday, August 19, 2007 at 12:11:00 PM

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» Friendship skills at work

David Maister has an interesting post on using friendship skills as a strategy at work. He suggests that skills that make a person a good friend will also make a person a good consultant. I think it's a very interesting perspective and I agree with it. In fact, I think it's brilliant! And, I think it's good advice for anyone who is trying to have a successful and impactful career...

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Posted by Susie Wee on Thursday, August 09, 2007 at 2:27:00 AM

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» Top 10 things you can do to make a meeting successful

The success of a meeting depends on you. I put together a list of the top 10 things you can do to make a meeting successful.

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Posted by Susie Wee on Monday, July 30, 2007 at 1:25:00 AM

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» Use your weekend strengths at work

I was on a panel Q&A session for the women interns at HP Labs. One of the tips I gave them was: Align your work with your passions and strengths. Define your career accordingly. An additional tip that I gave was: Use your weekend strengths at work. Read on to learn more...

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Posted by Susie Wee on Wednesday, July 25, 2007 at 2:24:00 AM

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» Are you blind-sided by your strengths?

When you're playing sports, it's natural to have a strong side. But are you being blind-sided by your strengths?

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Posted by Susie Wee on Wednesday, July 18, 2007 at 12:00:00 AM

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» Are you here or there?

You know the person... the person who is always looking at their cell phone or PDA, checking for new messages, stepping out for phone calls, busily pounding on their laptops responding to their emails, even when they're in small meetings...

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Posted by Susie Wee on Friday, July 13, 2007 at 2:57:00 AM

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» An audience of one

What size audience do you need to stick with a new idea, a new tool, or a new hobby?

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Posted by Susie Wee on Tuesday, July 10, 2007 at 4:19:00 PM

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» Does your work environment resemble The Office?

Last week I was talking to some friends about their work environment. I asked them, "Have you seen that show The Office? Does your work environment actually resemble The Office?" Read on for their answer...

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Posted by Susie Wee on Monday, June 25, 2007 at 11:54:00 PM

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» Don't forget to breathe

Sounds kind of silly out of context, but those of you who work out know exactly what this means. When you're doing something tough like lifting weights or doing pushups, then it's kind of natural to hold your breath and stop breathing. This makes me think about what other otherwise-second-nature things we forget to do when things get tough at work and in our careers...

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Posted by Susie Wee on Sunday, June 24, 2007 at 11:50:00 AM

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» Erik Mazzone's Top 10 Tips for Meeting Etiquette

I'm a research lab director, and grew up in the research and engineering ranks. Erik is a career consultant for lawyers, and was a practicing lawyer. My Top 10 tips for how to talk in groups were geared towards quiet people... Erik has an interesting set of tips geared towards talkative people. Enjoy!

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Posted by Susie Wee on Friday, June 22, 2007 at 10:40:00 AM

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» Susie Wee's Top 10 Tips for how to talk in groups

If you're like me and many other people in the world, you were not born with the ability to talk in groups. Don't worry, you're not alone. Here are my top 10 tips for how to talk in groups. Enjoy!

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Posted by Susie Wee on Thursday, May 24, 2007 at 9:00:00 AM

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» How to talk in groups: Why talk?

An important first step in learning how to talk in groups is understanding why people talk in groups. The first set of reasons are obvious. The second set are not so obvious...

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Posted by Susie Wee on Tuesday, May 08, 2007 at 11:58:00 PM

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» How to talk in groups: Calling all quiet people

I'd like to write a few posts on How To Talk in Groups. This series is dedicated to the quiet people- those who listen more than they talk; those who have lots of interesting thoughts but don't get many chances to share them. But first I'd like to get your inputs...

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Posted by Susie Wee on Monday, May 07, 2007 at 2:32:00 AM

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» A hectic month

In general, my schedule tends to be pretty busy. But I have to say, the last month has been even more hectic than usual. What are your most hectic days, weeks, or months? Here's a glimpse into my life...

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Posted by Susie Wee on Saturday, May 05, 2007 at 11:51:00 AM

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» Blogging on the beach: Catching waves by mistake

I had one more chance to go surfing in Hawaii and I made an important discovery-- You can catch waves by mistake!

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Posted by Susie Wee on Sunday, April 22, 2007 at 11:48:00 AM

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» Blogging on the beach: Catch a wave... at work

I find surfing to be very analogous to work and your career. Like surfing, work is a lot more fun when you catch a wave...

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Posted by Susie Wee on Monday, April 16, 2007 at 6:16:00 PM

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» Blogging on the beach: Swimming in the waves... at work

As I snorkle, I'm watching fish nibble on coral as the waves spin them around. I'm also swimming in the ocean sometimes with and sometimes against the waves. I can't help but think about a career analogy...

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Posted by Susie Wee on Sunday, April 15, 2007 at 1:31:00 AM

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» Blogging on the beach: Making uncomfortable comfortable

Blogging on the beach... What do you do when you're faced with a little rain?

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Posted by Susie Wee on Saturday, April 14, 2007 at 12:02:00 AM

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» Blogging on the beach: Work-life balance

I have a deep dark confession... I want to blog on the beach! Is this a violation of work-life balance?

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Posted by Susie Wee on Thursday, April 12, 2007 at 9:39:00 PM

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» Learning is personal

When I first started working, a coworker friend told me about a book that I just "had to get". But every time I tried to read it, I fell asleep. I tried again and again, but I kept falling asleep. Then I started managing...

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Posted by Susie Wee on Tuesday, March 27, 2007 at 11:30:00 AM

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» Absorbing laterals into a team: Who's the new guy?

Management guru David Maister has an interesting post on the effectiveness of the strategy of hiring "laterals" into an organization. David's premise is that hiring laterals can only work if they are properly integrated into the company. This got me thinking about the relationship between the "new guy at work" who has to get integrated in the company and the "new guy on the ice" who has to get integrated in with a sports team...

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Posted by Susie Wee on Tuesday, March 20, 2007 at 12:52:00 PM

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» Multimedia search 2.0: tagging vs. analysis / man vs. machine

Which is better: user-generated tagging or machine-based content analysis? Here's a little story to help us think about it...

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Posted by Susie Wee on Thursday, March 15, 2007 at 11:07:00 PM

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» Playing position and trusting your teammates

This morning I had practice with my women's ice hockey team, and a very interesting discussion came up about "playing position" and "trusting your teammates to do the right thing". This applies to work, too...

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Posted by Susie Wee on Sunday, March 11, 2007 at 4:55:00 PM

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» Susie Wee's Top 10 Career Tips

Today I gave on talk on "The Softer Side of Research". This included my top 10 career tips plus a few bonus tips for research. Which is your favorite tip?

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Posted by Susie Wee on Monday, March 05, 2007 at 10:06:00 AM

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» The softer side of research

Today I gave a talk on "The Softer Side of Research" to a group of highly technical researchers at a research institute in Singapore. The room was so packed that they had to bring in extra chairs to accommodate everyone. Judging from the looks in their eyes, the researchers almost seemed hungry for tips on the softer side. I found this hunger interesting.

What do you think about getting tips on "the softer side"? Is this easy or hard to come by? Based on the title, what kinds of things would you like to hear about in such a talk?

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Posted by Susie Wee on Monday, March 05, 2007 at 9:51:00 AM

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» Working globally

I just spent a day in Tokyo with my research team in Japan. The researchers in Japan have very interesting perspectives, some of which are quite different from those of the researchers in the US and Europe. Whenever I visit the team, they give me updates and I learn something new about technology, the industry, and the culture. One of the discussion topics on this visit was "working globally"...

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Posted by Susie Wee on Saturday, March 03, 2007 at 8:04:00 PM

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» It's easier to do a Ph.D. thesis the second time around!

I gave a guest lecture at Stanford on the first research topic I worked on after grad school. At the end of class, one of the students asked me if this was my thesis topic. I said "No", and this is where the fun began. Read on for a few tips on doing a 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Ph.D. thesis...

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Posted by Susie Wee on Tuesday, February 27, 2007 at 3:11:00 AM

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» Managing research = Aligning passions

Managing research sounds like an oxymoron. How do you manage creativity? How do you manage the creativity of N researchers, where N=1,10,100,...? How do you manage people so that their total output is not just the sum of the individual contributions, but reaches the full potential of the team? Managing research is not easy, but I find an important guiding principle for managing research is aligning passions. Specifically:

Align the passions of researchers with an important need.
Align the passions of researchers with their teammates.

Read on for more details...

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Posted by Susie Wee on Monday, February 19, 2007 at 6:39:00 PM

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» The goal of industrial research

What is the goal of industrial research? I view the holy grail as making a series of technical contributions that improve the customer experience... while making business impact, research impact, and industry impact... while making the company profitable. Read on for more details...

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Posted by Susie Wee on Thursday, February 15, 2007 at 10:34:00 PM

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» More on Permission Based Innovation

Phil McKinney has a great post on Permission Based Innovation, so please take a minute to read it over. From my perspective as a manager, all I can say is that he is right on with all his points. I have a few additional points:

The creativity of a team far exceeds the individual creativity of the team leader.
An idea that comes from the passion of a team member is 10 times more powerful than an idea that comes from the team leader.
An idea that strikes the passion of both the team member and the team leader will go 10 times faster than an idea that strikes the passion of only one.
A great idea needs a champion to see it through.

Read on for more details...

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Posted by Susie Wee on Wednesday, February 07, 2007 at 3:22:00 PM