I was looking over the Physics Today website to pass some time today and I came across an article pertaining to scientists and their social skills.  The article is titled “Two Protons Walk into a Black Hole, and other jokes physicists tell”, from the Wall Street Journal.  Click on the link below for the full article.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122048206487796841.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

One thing that astonishes me as a person in academics is the lack of social skills by some people in their fields.  I have come across so many brilliant scientists with excellent ideas and thorough implementation of those ideas.  However, these results come only after a long periods of thought, development and computation.  Many scientists feel comfortable in their own isolation station. In other words, deep in their windowless laboratories, in a basement somewhere far away from other non-science folk.  Interdepartmental communication is not really the problem here.  The difficulty appears when this kind of information has to be presented to others elsewhere.  What this article is proposing is that teaching a little comedic improvisation could in turn help with an easement of communicating anything to just about anyone.

I can relate to this because I always hear the question all the time, “So what is it that you do?”  I could sputter out a complicated series of equations and say things like electronic band structure of crystals with no further explanation.  This would just result in blank facial expressions and complete confusion.  What must happen to keep the engagement of the conversation going is to bring your information to the same level as the other person.  This can be done with various methods.  The use of hand waving, drawing pictures and/or relating it to something already familiar.  These techniques seem to work for the most part.  Sometimes this could be more challenging because whenever the word physics is mentioned most likely the other person in the conversation becomes confused by the thought of something complicated.  It is always an on going challenge to portray ideas and concepts I am aware of to others who just do not have a clue.

The past 3 years I have been learning this same idea of communicating to complete strangers while in a non-scientific setting.  To make ends meet, I was working as a bartender and food server.  Here I learned skills to explain things with no hesitation, while sounding like I know what the hell I am talking about.  Remember the way to remain in control is to always give off the perception that you are, even if you are not.  No one else has to know that.  I consider this experience in the service industry essential to my education and has equipped me with the skills to interact with people everywhere I go.  I know that I would rather report my own ideas so I can guarantee that what I am saying is how it was intended.  At all costs I would like to avoid situations like Tom Smykowski and his unfortunate interview with the Bobs.  You don’t want people like this to relay your information to those who matter.

Tom Smykowski, Character from Office Space:

“Well-well look. I already told you: I deal with the goddamn customers so the engineers don’t have to! I have people skills; I am good at dealing with people. Can’t you understand that? What the hell is wrong with you people?”