Supervisor = Salesman ?

Double check, is your supervisor a salesman ?

Eveybody knows salesmen character. Sweet lips, convincing, always smile and always, always have this phrase "Trust me". The salesmen learnt this thing to market themselves and their products. They want to attract people into something. Well, you know that.

But not everybody knows that a PhD supervisor can also be a salesman. This is because, a supervisor is a man who has been always pictured as a person who is straight to the point, no-nonsense, serious, critical, talk only when needed and highly respected. At least these were the characters of Einstein if he were to be a PhD supervisor.

The above characters were the pure trademark of a PhD supervisor 20 decades ago. In this globalization era, only a handful of supervisors have the pure trademark. Those who got these kind of supervisors, you are lucky. In a competitive world now, some supervisors survive by mixing the pure trademark and salesmen character. Frankly, I am still asking myself the reasons. To gain popularity amongst students maybe. We have to remember good reputation can be a brand name. In accounting, brand name is an asset. Having your names to be uttered around the places give you added value to that asset.

But what if you only discover that the quality of a popular product is not necessarily good ? What if a popular Prof or Dr is actually bad ? More important, how can you know whether your supervisor has the genuine trademark or simply a salesman ?

Based on my experience, i came into term that my old supervisor is a salesman through many characters. Like salesman, this kind of supervisor will give you repeated sweet promises, such as "you are a good researcher". Of course these words broadened your nostrils, but look deep because they might say "Do this by yourself, I cant be bothered because I have my own research to do".

He might laugh at your stories. But beware, analyze, because the laugh can be translated to "you won't jeorpardize our relationship if something happen to your thesis". You also may have encountered a supervisor who stops and chuckles when he bump into you in the corridor. Becareful, because they might want to show that they have a good relationship with their students outside the office.

My advice is, if your supervisor is a salesman, always put yourself in a consumer's position. Practice to put away the cloud-nine emotions thrown by your supervisor at you, dig deep inside his words and take in-charge of your thesis. It is okay to be serious with your supervisor because you need to show him that part of his salary comes from YOUR fees. You have to put yourself in a position one step higher than him. My Obi Wan Kenobi* said "see beyond his words by pretending that he is your Master student". And, dont be afraid to follow your gut if it says that you need to change supervisor.

Why I share this ? Because I was supervised by a salesman who had 22 students under him, and guess how many passed ? TWO.

EMA

*Obi Wan Kenobi is a pseudonym for my dear advisor in Malaysia.