Contact
R&D Leaders' Top Concerns About Leading Themselves, Their People, and Their Organisations. Free live webinar with Dr. CJ Fitzsimons

Free live webinar for principal investigators, group leaders and professors

R&D leaders' top concerns about leading themselves, their people, and their organisations.

Over 25 years of coaching researchers, Dr. CJ Fitzsimons has collected more than 6,300 questions from PIs, group leaders and professors. In 60 minutes he shows what they reveal about where leadership in research really gets hard, and what actually helps.

When
To be confirmed. Register now and you will hear the date first.
How long
60 minutes, including live Q&A
Where
Live online. The link arrives by email.
Cost
Free. Everyone who registers gets the recording.
Dr. CJ Fitzsimons
Hosted by Dr. CJ Fitzsimons, PhD Founder of Leadership Sculptor. Mathematician by training, 25 years coaching R&D leaders.

Reserve your seat

Free. Takes about 30 seconds.

Please add your first name.
Please add your last name.
That email address does not look complete.

Your details are used only to run this webinar. Data protection

You are registered,

The access link will arrive by email a few days before the session, together with a calendar invite. If you left a question, CJ will see it before the webinar.

Know a colleague who leads a group? Most people find this page through someone they trust.

Some of the 6,300 questions

Every one of them was asked by a real researcher in a workshop or a coaching session. Read together, they sort themselves into three levels. Which concerns come up most often, and what the numbers behind them say, is what the webinar is about.

Leading themselves

The questions leaders rarely say out loud in their own institute.

  • How do I stop feeling like a fraud in a role nobody prepared me for?
  • I only enjoy the science. How do I make myself do the rest of the job?
  • Tenure decision in two years. How do I build a group and still publish?

Leading their people

The questions that show up in every 1:1 and every group meeting.

  • Why do I keep ending up doing my postdocs' work myself?
  • Two of my PhD students are not speaking to each other. Is that my job to fix?
  • My students will not work weekends the way we did. How do I motivate them?

Leading their organisations

The questions about everything above and around the group.

  • My director wants results faster. My team is already at the limit. Who wins?
  • How do I negotiate for lab space when every group is fighting for it?
  • How much of my week can go to admin before the science suffers?

Questions are paraphrased to protect the people who asked them. The webinar works with the originals.

What to expect

Built for PIs and group leaders who hold a grant and lead a team, for professors on the tenure track, and for heads of labs and departments in research institutes, biotech and pharma R&D.

What you take away

Five things you can use in your own group.

  • The five concerns that appear most often across all 6,300 questions, and why they are the same in a Max Planck institute, a university lab and an industry R&D team.
  • A quick way to work out which level, you, your people or your organisation, is behind the problem on your desk today.
  • One practical tool per level that you can use in your next 1:1, group meeting or conversation with your director.
  • What has worked for other PIs and group leaders in the same situation, in the language of the lab rather than the boardroom.
  • Answers to your own questions in the live Q&A. Ask anonymously if you prefer.

How the hour runs

Times are minutes into the session.

  1. WelcomeHow 6,300 questions were collected, and how they were sorted.
  2. Level one: leading yourselfImpostor feelings, overload, the tenure clock.
  3. Level two: leading your peopleDelegation, conflict, difficult conversations, a new generation of PhDs.
  4. Level three: leading in your organisationPressure from above, resources, admin, funding cycles.
  5. Live Q&AYour questions, anonymous if you prefer.
  6. CloseThe recording and slides go out the next day.
Dr. CJ Fitzsimons leaning on a stack of leadership books

Your host

Dr. CJ Fitzsimons, PhD

Founder, Leadership Sculptor

CJ is a mathematician by training who has spent 25 years coaching leaders in research and development. He has worked with thousands of scientists across Europe, North America and India, including groups at Helmholtz, Max Planck, CZI and the Nencki Institute. The 6,300 questions in this webinar came from those rooms.

Most PIs I work with aren't bad leaders. They're untrained leaders.

Coaching in the language of the lab: DFG, ERC, tenure track, grant cycles. No corporate jargon.

Questions about the webinar

Is it really free?

Yes. There is no charge and no sales presentation. If you want to talk your own situation through with CJ afterwards, you can book a call, but that is entirely your choice.

I cannot make the live session. Should I still register?

Yes. Everyone who registers receives the recording and the slides the day after the session.

Can I ask questions?

In two ways. Leave one in the registration form and CJ will read it before the session, or ask live in the Q&A. Questions can be anonymous.

What language is the webinar in?

English.

What happens with my details?

They are used to send you the access link, one reminder and the recording. Nothing else, unless you ask for it. The full text is on the data protection page.

Can I invite my group or colleagues?

Please do. Each person registers separately so that everyone receives the link and the recording.

Bring your question. Leave with a way to answer it.

60 minutes, free, live online. Registered guests hear the date first and receive the recording either way.

Reserve my seat