Prof. Frank Wilhelm-Mauch: Leadership can be learned!

Director of the Peter-Grünberg Institute - Quantum Computing Analytics (PGI-12)

“Things go like this in science: if you climb the career ladder, you automatically become a manager. You get your first professorship because you’re really good at theoretical research, for example – and then, suddenly, you spend a lot of time leading people. I’ve accepted that I do research exclusively through my staff, and I feel that this is an extension of my scientific possibilities. What’s also crucial for their collaborative work to produce excellent results is good leadership, which can and must be learned – continuously! This also means regularly reflecting on whether you really are the leader you want to be. For example, I want to be a good role model for my staff, the way my mentor in Karlsruhe once was for me. Part of this is giving your people challenges that they can actually meet. It’s also important to me to keep promises and, in this way, not to gamble away the trust the team has in me. Unfortunately, the fact that I promote talent in the best possible way also means that good people leave my team again – by enabling my best doctoral students to quickly obtain a doctorate, for example, even though it would be tempting to benefit from their great abilities for as long as possible. I’m proud in a way to have helped many excellent researchers on their career paths: from team leadership in other PGI institutes to vice-president of a global corporation strong in research.

What’s particularly important to me at PGI-12 is to listen to my team! For example, I’ve learned from doctoral researchers that I could sometimes be a little stricter. However, the leadership feedback that Leadership Development offered me also helped me a lot. The timing was great because I had just been able to build up a real mid-level faculty in my institute section for the first time. Now we had to decide how to work together in the best possible way in the future. I’m always open to honest feedback. With the anonymous leadership feedback, however, it was easier to reflect to me quite openly where exactly they would like to see changes. Sifting through this feedback was really exciting: for example, my mid-level faculty wanted me to help them understand even better who exactly has what responsibilities at the PGI-12. In order to clarify this in a structured way, I quickly developed the idea for a workshop with the leadership development team. On the same day, I sat down with my group leaders, who readily welcomed my proposal. Now we are taking the next steps together.”