Self-Compassionate Professor

Although Dr. Meggin McIntosh loved her career in academia, between university politics and an inner knowing that she was destined for something else, she eventually left and started a successful business. In this episode, Meggin describes the moment she knew it was time to leave her academic career, explains the importance of listening to intuition, and offers advice to others about listening to their own intuition. Her conviction to build a meaningful career is clear throughout the interview and toward the end of the conversation, when Meggin describes the gratitude she feels for the coaching career she has built, she says, "THIS is what my whole life prepared me for." Her words are powerful, her conviction strong, and her wisdom deep. 

Victoria Crystal takes us back to graduate school and helps us to remember what actually drove us there and how much of those original longings are still with us now. In this interview, she tells us that she loves science AND that the academic research process felt restricting to her. So after finding the courage to leave her PhD program, she found a way to be a scientist on her own terms. She now teaches science in various ways to various audiences: to students in the college classroom, to the general public who visit national parks, as well as to kids listening to her podcast, Ask a Scientist.

Dr. Stacey Wieland discusses losing her tenured position to covid last summer, how she has grieved and begun to heal, as well as how the experience has opened her to new insights about her strengths as well as new career possibilities. Stacey discusses the importance of being able to hold both grief and hope simultaneously, strike a work-life balance, hold loosely to the future, use discernment to make solid career decisions, and lean into community and relationships. This conversation is full of wisdom for those navigating the loss of their academic jobs/careers. 

In this solo episode, my conversation (on Episode 54) with Dr. Lauren Broyles and the spring break season collide. I talk about the problem of overworking during spring break. I discuss why a spring break is necessary, how rest is actually a power position, and steps you can take to ensure you actually get a break this spring. After this episode, I hope you take a nap!

Dr. Jillian Powers explains that we do not have to leave our academic identities behind when we leave our academic jobs. Jillian describes how she has been able to hold on to and adapt her academic identity even after transitioning from an academic career to a career in industry. She now integrates, into her business anthropology work, the things about academia she loves. Interestingly, she has even refused to create a résumé and still uses a CV. 

Dr. Lauren Broyles speaks honestly and openly about the problem of addiction among academic women. As a former addiction researcher and a woman in recovery from both alcohol use disorder as well as work addiction, Lauren speaks about the pervasive problem in academia where women often "outsource" their emotions in order to cope with heavy workloads. This mental health crisis in academia, as Lauren notes, is rarely talked about or researched. For academic women in this situation, Lauren has a created a Facebook group called, “The Bigger Table.”

Mark Herschberg shows us how developing new skills—even a tiny bit—can affect one’s impact in a big way. Drawing on his book, The Career Tool Kit, Mark shows us why it is important to recognize our weaknesses, how to develop them, and how to turn them into skills. Similarly, he also shows us how to increase our organizational impact: a process that requires people to open to new ways of doing things and work through challenges collectively.   

Dr. Karen Laurence calls out issues associated with academic isolation—issues academics rarely discuss, but feelings academics know deeply. She describes how her sense of home where she felt connected to close family and friends grounded her during an often intense and competitive graduate school experience. And when she eventually left home and those close connections, she became increasingly attached to her academic identity, which resulted in greater stress, anxiety, and a painful sense of isolation. She speaks also about the difficult road back home. In the end, she urges others who may feel unhappy in their academic careers to contemplate life and career possibilities beyond academia. 

As my first repeat guest, Dr. Margie Serrato and I start by talking about how her experience in academia is only a small part of her story. This insight leads us to a bigger conversation about how we, as academics, actively arrest our own development because we are afraid of what others might think. Margie urges us to expand our beliefs about what is acceptable, dismiss our inner judgments so that we can curiously explore new personal and career possibilities, and get to know ourselves honestly and deeply.   

Dr. Brian Witkowski urges us to think more flexibly about career, explaining how once you understand what you deeply care about, you can then translate your passion into a business model that allows you to do exactly the kind of work you want to do and earn a good living doing it. Brian emphasizes the need for academics to think about their work in new and different ways and shows us that we do not have to think of our careers in rigid and one-dimensional ways. Find Brian Witkowski on LinkedIn at the Lucrative Artist.