[from YouTube ("KidsTube"), in English]
(disclaimer: I don't own these videos and all rights belong to them)
(disclaimer: I don't own these videos and all rights belong to them)
A poor young man prays to Kannon goddess to make him rich. She tells him to leave the temple, and the first thing he grabs will make him rich.
He steps out, then trips. He's got some straw in his hand. How will some straw make him rich?
............
This past Saturday there was a visitor, an exchange medical student visiting OU Tulsa campus from Kyoto, Japan. He wanted to talk with Japanese scientists/researchers working around here and get some career advice for doing scientific research.
For some reason he made a contact to me. So I spared some time to talk with him.
One of the things I told him about early career research is "The Straw Millionaire".
Frankly, students are not useful at all at first. They need training before they can do experiments and start getting reliable results.
Most of them are aware that they got close to nothing. It can be discouraging.
Then, here comes the Straw Millionaire.
The poor young man gives horsefly-tied straw to a child, and gets three oranges in return. He feeds the oranges to a woman suffering from thirst, and gets beautiful fabric in appreciation. He gives the fabric to a man needing fabric, and gets a sick horse. The horse is tended well and gets healthy, and is eventually given to a moving man as his ride. The young man receives the moving man's house and farm, a fortune. Now he is rich.
Likewise, early career researcher needs to be able to produce results for his supervisor or mentor. The results can come back as next opportunities and rewards that help his career move forward.
Seemingly small results he produces can be the "thing in his hand" he can give away and get something bigger in return.
This kind of mentality is important. No one wants to work with a guy with entitlement mentality who demands something for nothing. Most want to help someone who has been helpful to them. And the world is surprisingly small for scientists.
We had a dinner in a Moroccan restaurant ("Cous Cous cafe" in OKC) with two more colleagues and kept having some "insider talk" on scientific research.
A fine Saturday evening, I suppose.
