Doctoral School annual lecture 2021 : everyone runs a business

Abstract

Obtaining a PhD is not easy. And neither should it be. It identifies the holder as having made a significant contribution, to a body of academic knowledge, all to the satisfaction of academic experts in the field. That takes years of dedicated study and experimental work. Towards the end of that period of intensive work, many doctoral students begin to question their future and suffer from the Quo Vadis syndrome. The choice often appears simple: either pursue an academic career or not. But this is the trap of the ‘single pursuit’ illusion ... the idea that only one option at a time is possible. A common view, although one that I now know to be false. Taking a PhD is not common. So why not be uncommon?

In this talk, Professor Smith argues that everyone in the world of work actually runs a business by selling their know-how. In other words, they are the business. All businesses sell just that one thing, know-how, either packaged as a product and/or a service. The doctoral student must step back and look at themselves from a new perspective. Will you sell your know-how to one customer and become an employee? Or will you sell it to multiple customers and become an employer? It is all a matter of assessing the true risk and reward from the commercialisation of your know-how, not the conventional perception.