Too many bright brains, too few have them!

"Beautiful country house, but bad weather today....."

Today is the research away day. I meant to bring my camera with me as the country house, Beaumanor Hall is known to be a beautiful place to visit, but I had forgotten about it on my way out. Anyway, the weather was not as good as it should be, so perhaps it should not make a difference if I had bought my camera with me. I had enjoyed myself today. The programme was not too packed with speakers one after another, non-stop, and just feed you with information. It had breaks, but the speakers deliver well too.

MT is one of our research leader who will be retired soon. He discussed why positive accounting research is unscientific, and along the way, bring out his research topics. I can follow him closely from beginning to the end. He knew his stuff so well that he is able to explain them so clearly. When I later approached him to ask if he would like to read my published paper to give me some hints on potential areas for development, he agreed to do so with no hesitation. I see some similarities in what he did about the non-linear stuff when compared to my "distributional pattern" topics. It will be interesting to see what he make of it. I can see how people will benefit working with him. But I do know working with the good people is not something you can beg for, it just happen. Having said that, MT is generous and willing to share to teach you what he knew. He helps people grow and he helps people see the light. :D

The highlight of the day was the discussion at the end about publication strategy. It didn't appear to be what I was expecting. It was a lot of discussion about the political side of publication, about how the network system you need to get in tune with to get your paper known, etc. As a junior member of staff, I supposed we want something more concrete, like how to get our work known and getting network, etc. They discussed about the importance of network, without telling us how to network. Other colleague like LM seems to be "playing the devil advocate" in that he disagrees with what some had to say, thinking that the discussion central too much on the political side of things on "getting published".

I like LM as he often helps single out issue where others might be unaware and that helps put things in perspective. Towards the end of the meeting, i wrote a short note, "too many bright brains, too few have them" and passed to RF. she had a laugh. Perhaps I might be right. :D