Evening Coffee

Haven't been home long from my afternoon class and am relaxing with a cup of well earned coffee. I was in such a rush to get to the university from the office that I didn't have time to stop at the Starbucks on campus for the tradition pre-class infusion of life. A dangerous thing when faced with a three hour lecture. Correct that: a three and a half hour lecture. The professor got carried away and before we knew it, it was 7:30 and we had gone three and a half hours nonstop. Oddly enough, I didn't mind this as the professor's enthusiasm is so strong, so infectious that the time passed quickly and she could have lectured another half an hour as far as I was concerned. The class? Epidemiology. A most remarkable course that ties in nicely with my current career and longer-range academic and career goals.

As I warned in my post this morning, it was a busy day at the office and the time there too passed quickly. I had to spend a considerable amount of time working on yet another personnel issue (a new hire scheduled to start next Monday) in addition to all the other things mentioned this morning. So today was a matter of racing from one meeting, one project to another while at the same time juggling all these peripheral management issues that seemingly come at you out of the blue and demand immediate attention and usually an immediate decision. Oddly enough, I felt so in my element today. The pressure was on, I was pulled in so many different directions at once, and I absolutely loved it. What makes this particularly amusing is that only a few years ago I simply wanted to be left alone in the lab to do my work in peace without any external distractions. I suppose this is indicative of the natural progression of things: both the employment transition into a management role and developing the skills to cope with the pressures and responsibilities that come with such a position.

The next few months are going to be a real test of whatever leadership skills I may (or may not) have. Two developments are going to complicate matters at work. First of all, beginning today my secretary will be out on medical leave for about six weeks and a temp will be slow in coming (if at all). Thankfully, I have a few people on my staff capable of covering front office duties in addition to their own. So we'll see how this goes. More significantly, my division is going to come to the aid of another division in the organization that's currently foundering in personnel and productivity issues. The real trick is going to be rallying the fortitude of my staff to take on additional responsibilites without a letup of their own. I foresee much diplomacy on my part as well as the "leading by example" thing.

So if I thought today was fun (and it certainly was, from a crazy point of view) it's only going to get better as the weeks go by.