Tuesday 29 June 2021
Thinking outside the box
Leon: ‘Hi Dorian! I saw that you have a PhD in innovation management and entrepreneurship. This made me wonder: what makes a good entrepreneur in your view?’
Dorian: ‘If one has the guts to swim against the current. The person who comes to mind was actually more of an intrepreneur: an entrepreneur who works for a company. With the goal of developing a strong adhesive, Arthur Fry accidentally created an adhesive that was easy to remove. Although he was strongly convinced of the usefulness of this invention, he didn’t receive any support.’
‘Yet he continued to promote his invention until he found someone who believed in him. He saw potential for a good application of the glue; this is how the Post-it was born. Post-its are now a standard office product and sold in 150 countries - it shows what you can achieve by thinking outside the box. And that it’s worthwhile to go in your own direction every so often.’
Leon: ‘What a great story. And what is your best idea that was outside the box?’
Dorian: ‘Gosh, I have to think about that. Generally, I just want to consistently publish good articles. I also think that's where my strength lies. But I definitely try to think outside the box as much as possible. Instead of immediately accepting research results, I like to closely examine the methodology used.’
Michiel: ‘What do you hope to achieve with that?’
Dorian: ‘In short: to find better solutions for social or organisational issues and make better decisions. The method you choose also determines how you interpret results and to what extent you can generalise results. In my opinion, too little attention is paid to that. I still see that policy choices are often based on research results which are difficult to reproduce. That’s really too meagre, and makes me want to be involved in improving that. By researching methodology, we can develop better methodology. Hopefully that will lead to useful solutions - in practice.’
Michiel: ‘Sounds interesting. What research are you most satisfied with in your career so far?’
Dorian: ‘My most cited article is about solving a problem in a commonly used method within statistics: Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). Previously, researchers weren't quite sure how to deal with this particular problem, so it was simply ignored. I first heard about it myself when I was at a conference to present a paper, when someone asked me how I dealt with it. I subsequently pored over the problem and presented it to an expert in that particular field. He said: "Let's work together and find out" - which resulted in that article. Now, four years later, we still have a very good research collaboration. And the solution to this problem increases the statistical validity of models in many other research areas.’
‘So that particular person at the conference changed the entire direction of my career. That's why I'm such a big fan of having lunch with your colleagues – it can lead to very meaningful conversations. Especially at UT, because the interdisciplinarity means you hear many different perspectives.’
Arno: ‘Funny how that works. Do you like that interdisciplinarity the most about UT?’
Dorian: ‘It is one of the things that makes UT so much fun, yes. I also like the way the team is organised. In our department we work together a lot, and give each other feedback. Since I’m from Germany, I'm not used to that. I am relatively young and still trying things out, so I like it when professors with more experience tell me what works and what doesn't.’
Arno: ‘Is it more everyone for themselves in Germany?’
Dorian: ‘Absolutely. Science is competitive there. During my job interview at UT I said that I am a competitive person. In retrospect, I realised I shouldn’t have mentioned that since competitiveness isn’t as valued here, haha. The organisational structure is much flatter in the Netherlands.’
‘I hear similar things from other Germans who work or study in the Netherlands. A former colleague from Germany studied at UT and told me her advisor once spontaneously asked her over for coffee. My colleague said she lay awake for nights because she thought she was in trouble - missed a deadline or something. It turned out that her study advisor just wanted to catch up. I think that is emblematic of how we treat each other at UT.’
Michiel: ‘Haha, I think so too. But a bit of a competitive attitude won't hurt. It keeps you committed, right?’
Dorian: ‘Exactly. For example, I am now committed to the Challenge-Based Learning UTQ (University Teaching Qualification) pilot. I am trying to implement Challenge-Based Learning in my curriculum. Too often, students are still judged on the solutions they propose, while learning is what happens on the way.’
‘That's why my pre-master students are now all writing reflection reports. That way I do not only assess their solution, but also the process leading up to that solution. And if they did not find the right solution, maybe they can indicate why. I would like to dedicate myself to this way of learning in the coming years.’
Leon: ‘Sounds like a great challenge, I'm curious as to how you will fare. And I'd still like to hear about that outside of the box idea of yours!’
Dorian: ‘Yes, I'll get back to you. At lunch, or over coffee!’