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Five Questions Over Coffee with Gwen Acton (ep. 151)
Who is Gwen?
Gwen Acton, PhD, has built her career helping “rocket scientists”—the brilliant scientists, engineers, and technical experts behind today’s most innovative companies—become extraordinary leaders. With a background spanning everything from biology to technology, Gwen was inspired by the crucial roles these experts play in industries like biotech, aerospace, AI, big pharma, and government research labs. She saw that while technical leaders are essential for organizational success, many find themselves suddenly tasked with leading teams, often without the tools or training to do so. Gwen made it her mission to bridge this gap, coaching and advising growth-stage companies and R&D groups so their top technical minds can excel both as experts and as leaders.
Key Takeaways
Summary
Stuart Webb and Gwen Acton PhD discuss
* Why technical expertise doesn’t equate to leadership proficiency
* Common pitfalls technical leaders face (like micromanagement and letting go of control)
* The mindset shift required to move from individual contributor to successful team leader
* The most essential skills and behaviors for leadership in science and technology-driven organizations
* Practical advice for influencing up, engaging teams, and leading transformation
* Insights from Gwen’s career and highlights from her book, “Leadership for Scientists and Engineers”
* Audience questions on changing leaders’ minds and the hallmarks of great leadership
Whether you’re a new leader, a technical expert on the rise, or simply curious about the bridge between science and leadership, this episode delivers actionable tips and inspirational stories.
Timestamps & Overview
* 00:00 - Tech glitches and introductions:Stuart Webb kicks off, introducing Gwen Acton PhD, her background, and the episode setup.
* 01:24 - Defining the technical leader’s challenge:Gwen explains who she helps and the need for leadership skills in technical organizations.
* 04:10 - Why technical backgrounds don’t prepare you for leadership:Gwen highlights the crucial differences between technical problem-solving and managing people, and why logic alone isn’t enough for people problems.
* 07:04 - The confusion and blind spots of technical leaders:Discussion about why what worked as a technical expert often fails in leadership, and the importance of learning new interpersonal skills.
* 09:16 - Letting go and the pains of delegation:Gwen addresses micromanagement, the struggle to trust others, and methods for successful delegation in high-precision environments.
* 11:29 - One piece of leadership advice:Why great leaders ask more (and better) questions instead of always trying to provide answers.
* 13:24 - Audience Q&A – Changing minds and influencing up:Gwen shares tips for helping leaders change direction, including the power of genuine questions and one-on-one influence.
* 17:05 - Gwen’s journey from scientist to leadership expert:Personal story about her path, why group dynamics and leadership in science are so important, and practical solutions for the technical world.
* 20:20 - About the book “Leadership for Scientists and Engineers”:What readers will find inside and why it’s designed as a practical guide for technical leaders.
* 21:34 - What makes a good leader or role model?:Key traits and behaviors ranging from strategic alignment to offering feedback and motivating teams.
* 26:48 - The killer question: What separates great leaders from those who plateau?:Gwen’s reflections on lifelong learning, intentional skill development, and the humility to accept feedback.
* 29:28 - Closing remarks and staying in touch:How to subscribe for future episodes, more about Gwen, and reaching out with questions.
Resources and Links
* 📘 Gwen’s Book: “Leadership for Scientists and Engineers”
* 🆓 Free Leadership Resources:www.systemise.me/free-stuff — Grab templates, guides, and more to boost your leadership journey.
* 💡 Stay Informed:To be first to know about upcoming guests (and ask your questions live!), visit www.systemise.me/subscribe.
* 🔗 Connect with Gwen Acton PhD:Find Gwen on LinkedIn and follow for more expert tips (see show notes for the link).
👍 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and leave your comments and questions below—for Gwen or for future guests!
And don’t forget: keep an eye out for next guest. To submit your own questions, subscribe to our newsletter and join the conversation!
P.S. Loved this episode? Hit reply and let us know what resonated most
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Transcript
Note, this was transcribed using transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
technical leadership, rocket scientists, scientist to leader transition, leadership skills, delegation, micromanagement, influencing skills, team motivation, business leadership, technical expertise, problem solving, people management, organizational success, biotech leadership, tech company leadership, research labs, defense contractors, big pharma R&D, cross-functional teams, leadership blind spots, team ownership, decision making, senior leadership, growth stage companies, feedback in leadership, leadership mindset, communication skills, leadership for scientists, career development, leadership challenges, leadership book
SPEAKER
Gwen Acton, Stuart Webb
Stuart Webb [00:00:55]:
Hi, and welcome back to It’s Not Rocket Science. Five questions over coffee. I’ve got my coffee mug in front of me. I hope Gwen, my guest today, has got her. I’m having a bit of a laugh because as, as soon as we tried to go live, there was a technical error. And the last thing I can remember saying as I was pushing this, which hopefully didn’t come through on the, on the live stream, was why do we work with technology? But here we are. Here we are, Gwen. Welcome to It’s Not Rocket Science.
Stuart Webb [00:01:24]:
Five questions over koio, I’m looking forward enormously to talking to you. Gwen is a really inspiring leader. She works with, well, she, she is a, she’s a former scientist. She’s got a, got a very impressive, very impressive PhD and she now works with leaders in scientific and organizations like that, helping them to take the knowledge that she’s got from transitioning from being a scientist to being a business leader and helping them do the same. So I’m really looking forward to the talk today, the discussion today. So Gwen, welcome to It’s Not Rocket Science. Five questions over coffee.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:02:03]:
Thanks so much, Stuart. It’s great to be here today.
Stuart Webb [00:02:05]:
Look, I’ve just given you, I’ve just given you the build up, so perhaps you better clarify for us exactly who is the leader you’re trying to help. What is it that you bring to them and try and help them to understand that’s perhaps different to their other life when they’re trying to lead a business.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:02:25]:
Yeah. So my, I, I actually was really struck by the title of your podcast, which is it’s not rocket science because that I work with rocket scientists who have become or other brilliant scientists and engineers. Everything from PhD biologists to aerospace engineers, AI designers, you name it. Those, those folks who are highly trained as technical experts who then through no fault of their own end up as leaders either. They’re trying to accomplish things as leaders. They end up heading a group and those leaders lead to, you know, so my ideal client is our leaders or organizations that have these rocket scientists and those rocket scientists are key to the success of those organizations. So in practice, I work with growth stage biotechs and tech companies, government research labs, defense contractors, big pharma, R and D groups, any place where technical leaders are essential for success, any Place where you have these technical, these rocket scientists who are promoted into these leadership positions and need to now accomplish work through teams.
Stuart Webb [00:03:44]:
And what is it about being a scientist which somehow doesn’t quite prepare you? And I know the feeling myself as somebody that’s gone through this, it doesn’t quite prepare you for the business of leadership. What is it they’ve tried to do? What is the thing which they’ve been doing but somehow hasn’t worked for them before they seek some expertise in somebody like yourself.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:04:10]:
Yeah, I think the biggest, one of the biggest challenges when you are a technical expert is, is just not realizing how different leadership is. Right. So you. And that’s why I love the name of your podcast, it’s not Rocket Science. Both, you know, you often use that phrase not rocket science to mean it’s not difficult, which I think we would all agree. Leadership is hard because otherwise you wouldn’t have as many bad leaders out there as we have. Yeah, but the biggest. So that thing is, it’s not rocket science, it’s not technical.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:04:46]:
Right. Typically the technical experts are promoted into leadership positions based on that technical or subject matter expertise. But then all of a sudden suddenly you become, you know, the best scientists and engineers become responsible for motivating and aligning teams. So for example, a deadline is shortened and everyone in the group is complaining. Right. That’s not rocket science. But you need to be able to do that to accomplish rocket science. You need to navigate different conversations.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:05:20]:
For example, you have an underperformer. And again, it’s not rocket science, but you have to, you can’t have underperformers. If you’re going to make rockets or technology or science, you can’t have that. So how. That’s a different skill set influencing across the matrix. Right. Most scientists and engineers, you know, they’re not working on their own. They’re working across an organization, across cross functional teams and they need to get things done and not report to them.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:05:47]:
So that challenge is going from this technical expertise, which is very logical. All of a sudden, walking into a very different set of expectations and needs around leading a group, influencing, negotiating, etc. That are fundamentally different skills. And I think that is often what is overlooked is that just because you’re smart doesn’t mean, just as you’re smart at solving technical problems doesn’t mean that there aren’t things that need to be learned about leadership.
Stuart Webb [00:06:25]:
And sometimes that learning is, it is a blind spot, isn’t it? Because having spent a life being a technical expert and sometimes being lauded for that technical expertise. In fact, people looking up to you because of that technical expertise. You don’t understand why suddenly having to learn, influencing skills is such a, such a challenge. It becomes one of those, well, I just don’t understand why things are just not working the way they used to. So do you find that a lot of the time you’re dealing with people who are confused as to why what they did yesterday isn’t working for them today?
Gwen Acton PhD [00:07:04]:
Absolutely. It can be baffling. And one of the questions many technical experts have is why was that person promoted, not me? Right. Why, you know, why are these people not doing. I was just talking to a leader last week who’s like, you know, I don’t, I don’t understand why everyone in my group isn’t. Science isn’t the most important thing to them. It’s the most important thing to me. So I don’t understand why it’s not the most important thing to everybody else.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:07:33]:
I don’t understand why those investors don’t understand this data. It’s so clear, you know, why, why are they not investing, you know, giving us support for this when it’s so obvious what this data says so, or it’s, you know, why is the team not performing when, when you know, we, we need them to. So absolutely there can be this confusion and then one of the common mistakes is trying to apply those, the existing skill set for solving problems to these people problems. And so you want to come at it like, well I’ll just logically explain to my team why they need to do this and then it doesn’t work. And they’re like, but I just explained logically why we should do this and not realizing the complexity of leaders leadership, of all the non logical features that go into somebody’s decision and the dynamics of the team and how you need to be able to navigate that as well to be a successful leader.
Stuart Webb [00:08:40]:
Yeah, sure. And it’s something that I think it’s often not just the technical, it’s not just learning, relearning those sort of skills that haven’t been taught before, but it’s also having to understand that the technical skills now have to be passed to somebody else to do, doesn’t it? The letting go because you’re now into lead an organization. But you can no longer be that bottleneck. The one person understands all of the technology. That can often be another bottleneck that such leaders need to sort of understand how they, how they pass that knowledge down.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:09:16]:
Yeah. The biggest complaint I hear and I’ve surveyed Multiple thousands, many thousands of technical leaders about what they are frustrated with in their leaders. And the number one complaint is micromanagement.
Stuart Webb [00:09:32]:
Yeah.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:09:32]:
And micromanagement, I truly believe, comes with the absolute best of intentions. It’s a desire because science and technology require precision and, you know, you can’t fluff around or, you know, massage things. There’s. It has to be done correctly. And so when you were a leader, when you were an individual contributor, you would just make sure everything got done to your standards and you’d stay late if you needed to. You would just work until it got done to the quality you thought it should be. And then you become a leader. And all of a sudden if you make that decision to have everybody do it to the quality level you’re used to and just work late, you’re making decisions for a group of people, not just for yourself.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:10:21]:
And that can have implications. But secondly, I think it’s often not appreciated just how challenging delegation is when it is complex and when that quality precision needs to be maintained. So how are you supposed to find the time to train someone to do it? How do you know whether to trust them? So the good news is you can. There are specific skills, specific ways of doing this that technical leaders can learn that will make it much better for them and for their rewards to get work done and not have to do everything themselves. There’s a real tendency to just try and do it themselves because they want to make sure it gets done. Well.
Stuart Webb [00:11:07]:
I guess this leads me to my sort of, my next question really, Graham, which is if you have to give one piece of advice, one valuable piece of advice to a leader, can you, can you, can you do that in, in a, in a simple way? Are there things that you can recommend that they do in order to sort of start the journey to understand exactly how they do this?
Gwen Acton PhD [00:11:29]:
Yeah, one, one is a mindset if you’re a leader, which is to stop trying to be the smartest problem solver in every circumstance or every conversation and start asking better questions. And this is actually very relevant to delegation because you don’t necessarily need to tell them exactly how to do things if you have the right questions to ask them. You ask them questions like, for example, how are you planning to do this? And that sounds really obvious. But without explicitly suggesting this, most of us don’t do that. We just assume they either understand or they don’t. Instead of getting more information about how the person we’re delegating to plans to accomplish something, or just in general asking questions about what other People’s intent is, what are you trying to accomplish here? Asking the group, what are our assumptions? Even asking questions like what am I missing? To folks, asking questions is powerful. First of all, you learn more. You get better ideas and learn more.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:12:38]:
So that’s just, that’s just a basic. It also can really help leaders have to make a lot of decisions and it can really help with decision overload for leaders. It can help distribute some of those decisions. But it also has this wonderful and surprising effect of getting more engagement and building stronger team ownership. Your team wants to do a good job, wants to contribute. So when you ask those kind of questions, not only are you learning from them, but they are able to contribute in a way that they feel more, you know, they, they are more motivated and have more ownership on the project.
Stuart Webb [00:13:24]:
So we’ve had a question come in from one of the people that’s watching us at the moment. Gwen, I don’t know if you can read it there on the screen, but what John wants to know is, do you think it’s hard to get leaders to change their mind, to change direction once they’ve made up their minds?
Gwen Acton PhD [00:13:42]:
Yeah, that’s an amazing question. And I think that really depends on the leader. I certainly have met leaders who struggle with being willing to change their minds. I mean, I’ve seen leaders across the spectrum, some the best leaders, are willing to question their assumptions and revisit and look at things again. I’ve often found sometimes it’s the more senior leaders, especially in the small growth companies I’ve seen, that can sometimes get very stuck in thinking that they’re right despite the evidence. So one of a frequent topic people ask me is how do I influence leaders above me? If I don’t believe in their decision, how do I influence it? And I’m going to come back to that typical, you know, that suggestion I just made a minute ago about asking questions. One of the most powerful ways to change the opinion of somebody else is to ask them questions. And genuine questions, not challenging.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:14:45]:
Well, ask them why did they choose. Like if you think they should have chosen A and they chose B, you know, ask them why did you choose B? You know, really want to understand your reasons. And sometimes you can see they actually have some very good reasons. Sometimes you see that there’s a flaw in their thinking. And so you have the possibility of saying, well, actually, you know, the data doesn’t suggest that you’re relying on an old set of data or an old set of conclusions that we have moved on from. So, yes, and no. One of the hardest places for a leader to change their mind is in front of a group. So you’re much better off if you want to change a leader’s mind to have a one on one conversation, to go at it with respect and questions, assume they probably had a good reason for it, for good reasons, and try and get beneath what their reasons are so you can uncover whatever might be a disconnect with that.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:15:43]:
But yes, that can be a real challenge when you see a leader in a making a decision that you don’t agree with and they won’t change their mind. Sometimes they have information you don’t have. I remember there have been times in my career where a leader made a baffling decision and it was only later that I found out a senior to me that they had information, knew something that I didn’t and I failed to recognize. I was just, I was just missing some of the information.
Stuart Webb [00:16:13]:
And thank you for that question, John. You may be watching this on repeat, thinking, I would love to have asked Gwen a question when she was live. So if you do have that, please drop a question in the comments below. Gwen will be looking out for any comments and she will come back and she will answer them or if she doesn’t, I will, I will point them in the direction to make sure that Gwen does it. So if you haven’t had your question answered live, make sure you drop one in the comments below us and we will come back and answer those questions. Because when you’ve got somebody with the sort of expertise and skill set that Gwen’s got, take advantage of that when she’s giving up free time in order to answer these questions. So thank you for that question, John, really appreciate it. And do you, do you, do you want to give us a little bit.
Stuart Webb [00:17:05]:
Gwen, can you, how did you get from, from what you were doing as a, as a, as a biologist, I mean, give us a little bit of that. But how did you get from that to what you’re doing now?
Gwen Acton PhD [00:17:20]:
So yeah, so Stuart, I was, I was trained a PhD scientist at MIT, did bench work and at some point I realized the academic track was not my passion, it wasn’t how I wanted to pursue it. And it took me a while to realize that one of the ways I am still a scientist at heart and one of the things I became very aware of is that scientists, engineers, no one essentially these days does their work entirely on their own. We are all working in groups, right? We’re at the minimum, we’re sharing data, we’re sharing Information, we’re sharing equipment, we’re sharing resources, we’re sharing space, et cetera. As soon as you have a group performing a task or interacting interdependent with each other in any, in any way, you start to have leadership issues. And what I saw when I began was that, that scientists and engineers think differently in many ways than many other folks. They’re more logical, they’re more fact based. They want to know the reasons why. They want to have specific practical suggestions for how to accomplish them.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:18:37]:
And as a PhD scientist out of MIT and having had leadership experience, I realized this was a way that we could make a significant impact on science and improve the practice of science and technology. Because they’re very, very, I mean, they’re obviously different. There are many overlapping issues there that we could improve the practice of technology and science through better leadership practices that are targeted for what? For specifically for being working in a technical environment. So, for example, there are many common solutions like build trust. And I’m like, I, you know, you can’t, if you tell a scientist or engineer, build trust, it doesn’t, it doesn’t have meaning, right? It’s because none of us, first of all, it’s not a well defined term, secondly, that doesn’t involve specific suggestions. So I realized I had a unique perspective here of being a scientist and also being trained in leadership and being able to bring that message so that we could have better science and technology which will benefit us all. And I do believe it is having an impact in how we practice, how we practice science and technology for the better.
Stuart Webb [00:20:01]:
I know we’ve got a shot on screen of your, your book that you’ve, you’ve written and I know this is, and we will put a link to Gwen’s book. But Gwen, do you want to give us just a highlight of what you tried to capture in your book before we come to another question from John?
Gwen Acton PhD [00:20:20]:
Yeah, so the, the book is Leadership for Scientists and Engineers. It came out about last year and it is designed specifically. My goal here is that any scientist or leader through who, through no fault of their own ends up in a leadership position, that somebody hands them this book so that they understand what the expectations are. I’ve had, it’s got over 80 five star reviews on Amazon. It’s designed to be very readable. You can read, you can pick up any chapter. That’s how I like to take in information. There are many, many specific suggestions, many examples, many specific things to say and do in certain situations, but also perspective as to why certain things are Important when you are a leader that are different than being an individual contributor and why you have to think about it differently, why you have to learn new skills, what are some of the, you know, communication.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:21:23]:
It’s different when you’re a leader. People hear you differently than when we
Stuart Webb [00:21:27]:
will, we will make sure that the link to Gwen’s book is in the show notes for this show. But we’ve got another question from John with what kind of behavior do you think is the most important for a good leader or role model and not allow you to sort of spend the next two days answering that? Because I think that’s, I think that’s a really difficult thing to answer.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:21:53]:
Well, I think it’s partly dependent on the organization, what you’re trying to accomplish. So if you have, if, if so if you’re at the, if you’re at a senior level in an organization, if you’re at a CEO, you know, some of the things you need to model are making sure to motivate the employees, making sure everybody knows and aligns around what is important that organization. So that is incredibly important. When you’re at the senior level, it’s important to think strategically, not just, not just react, but to be proactive and think about where’s the organization going to be five or 10, you know, whatever amount of time I work with companies that are thinking very, very things change so much, they’re thinking about a year, two years. But you know, two years, five years, 10 years, whatever it might be. So that is, that is at the top of the organization. If you are a frontline manager, meaning you have individual contributors as your reports or your, as your team, then some of the behavior that’s really important is to make sure you support and you know, support their, their, their careers, make sure they understand what is going on, mentor them under, make sure they are supported in how they do their jobs. And you know, you use the term good leader, which I love and I actually one of the exercises we do in workshops, we have a leadership boot camp workshop and one of the things we do is we do a brainstorm is what is good versus bad leadership.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:23:31]:
And I actually have a list in the book about some of what folks, you know, some of the characteristics that they say and technical expertise is expected for a technical leader, but it is only a small fraction. I’m just trying to find the page here. Some good, effective, good leadership skills. It’s communicating well, offering useful feedback, conveying a compelling vision, motivating and inspiring. Those are just a few examples I’ve Again, pulled thousands of technical experts and they all agree on these are good leadership. So important for a good leader is to make sure, I mean, it’s complex like you said, talk for days and make sure they’re getting work done, but also doing it in a way like I’m a firm believer. We sometimes think that leadership either has to be like, I have to be firm and unpleasant or I have to be so nice but things don’t get done. And I’m like, no, I don’t.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:24:32]:
I think you can be both fair and firm, get things done, but also have teams and groups really excited about the work. Right. In fact, most people are motivated to do a good job. Like that is their biggest motivation. If you’re in a science or technical group, the folks in it, most of them are incredibly motivated by doing a good job. And the thing that’s demotivating is when you can’t do a good job. So one of the most important things a leader can do is make sure the team has the resources, the support, the information, the clarity, the feedback, etc. So that they can do a good job.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:25:14]:
And I think that is one of the aspects of good leadership. But again, I sort of wrote the whole book. I love the question is actually about good leadership because just because you’re promoted into a position doesn’t mean you’re a good leader. Right? Is right. Just because you’re the CEO, just because you’re the founder, just because you’re an entrepreneur doesn’t mean your director, vp, whatever you are, your title doesn’t mean you are good at what you do. And I think that’s important to remember. Right. It’s just, it’s not just your title, it’s what, how, how good are you actually at, at, at being a leader?
Stuart Webb [00:25:52]:
Brilliant. Gwen, I’ve got, I’ve got one question left. Really. And thank you once again, John from, from Holland for asking those questions and I really appreciate you putting them in the comments. As I say, if there are more comments, please drop them below. Gwen, Will, will get on to those and we’ll answer them in as soon as she. As soon as you can, but go. And I’ve got one, one final question to ask you.
Stuart Webb [00:26:16]:
You must be thinking at the moment, this has been an interesting discussion, but he hasn’t asked me that one killer question, which actually is sort of the real question that everybody should ask me. Somebody who understands how, how you make great leaders of scientists and, and, and, and, and people who have a background as being a great technical expert. So I’M gonna have to be honest. I don’t know the question. So therefore, I’m gonna have to ask you what is the question I should have asked you? And once you have told us what the question is, you better answer it for us as well.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:26:48]:
Sure. Excellent. And I love that question. And the question I was thinking about here was, what separates the. You know, what separates technical leaders who plateau or aren’t great leaders from those who become truly excellent transformational leaders? And I think there are two aspects of that. One is a willingness to learn, and. And the second piece is intentionally developing those leadership skills. People often mistakenly think I’m either born a leader or I’m not, but the evidence suggests completely otherwise.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:27:26]:
There are specific set of skills we can learn to become much better leaders. The best leaders I have ever known were willing to look at their blind spots. They were willing to be honest about what they created, could and couldn’t do, and their strengths and weaknesses, and then set about intentionally trying to improve what they could. And so I. The best leaders, honestly, I have seen. Take, take. You know, we’ll sit in. You know, sometimes I’m working with a group of leaders who have just transitioned, technical folks who have just transitioned to leadership.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:28:02]:
And I’ve often had CEOs in those rooms and just sitting there listening and trying to figure out do I have any gaps, you know, in. In my knowledge that I can fill in here. And some of the worst leaders I’ve seen, or the ones who plateau, should I say, are ones that I’m like, they’re above learning about leadership because they think. They. They. They think, well, I’m the vp, so I must be good, right? Because that’s what my title is, so I must have done things right. And all I can think of is, you know, as. As a scientist or an engineer or, you know, just as a.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:28:38]:
As a curious person. It’s like, can we do it better? Right? Do we want to be satisfied with what we have? Just because you’ve achieved what you have doesn’t mean you couldn’t do it better. And so constantly questioning what could be better. And part of that is being willing to listen to feedback.
Stuart Webb [00:28:59]:
Brilliant. Gwen, I’ve got to thank you very much for spending a few minutes with us and doing this. One quick thing from me, if you would like to. To hear about the sort of people that we get onto this show and. And come on and talk about these things. I mean, these people are giving up free time and giving you free advice and free. Frankly, who doesn’t want somebody to do that. So if you’d like to do that, just go to the link that’s on screen now.
Stuart Webb [00:29:28]:
Www.systemize.me. subscribe. There’s a simple form there, asks for two things. Your first name, your email address. That’s all it’ll do. And then once a week, you’ll get an email from me saying who’s coming up on this show so that you can do as John did during today, ask live questions of people like Gwen and get live answers to their questions. And who doesn’t want somebody helping you do that with your business problems? Gwen, I’ve got to thank you for being here today. Just doing what you have done, which is answering questions, telling us about this.
Stuart Webb [00:30:00]:
I really love some of the stuff you’ve done. And if, if, if we will be putting into the show notes, links to your book and things like that so people can get to know more about you. We’ll also put more about where you can find Gwen on LinkedIn. Follow her and you’ll get some really great advice coming, coming from Gwen. So thank you, Gwen, for coming on and spending a few minutes with us today.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:30:24]:
Thank you so much, Stuart. It’s been great being here and I loved, you know, just great questions. So thank you so much.
Stuart Webb [00:30:30]:
Thank you,
Gwen Acton PhD [00:30:44]:
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By The Complete ApproachWho is Gwen?
Gwen Acton, PhD, has built her career helping “rocket scientists”—the brilliant scientists, engineers, and technical experts behind today’s most innovative companies—become extraordinary leaders. With a background spanning everything from biology to technology, Gwen was inspired by the crucial roles these experts play in industries like biotech, aerospace, AI, big pharma, and government research labs. She saw that while technical leaders are essential for organizational success, many find themselves suddenly tasked with leading teams, often without the tools or training to do so. Gwen made it her mission to bridge this gap, coaching and advising growth-stage companies and R&D groups so their top technical minds can excel both as experts and as leaders.
Key Takeaways
Summary
Stuart Webb and Gwen Acton PhD discuss
* Why technical expertise doesn’t equate to leadership proficiency
* Common pitfalls technical leaders face (like micromanagement and letting go of control)
* The mindset shift required to move from individual contributor to successful team leader
* The most essential skills and behaviors for leadership in science and technology-driven organizations
* Practical advice for influencing up, engaging teams, and leading transformation
* Insights from Gwen’s career and highlights from her book, “Leadership for Scientists and Engineers”
* Audience questions on changing leaders’ minds and the hallmarks of great leadership
Whether you’re a new leader, a technical expert on the rise, or simply curious about the bridge between science and leadership, this episode delivers actionable tips and inspirational stories.
Timestamps & Overview
* 00:00 - Tech glitches and introductions:Stuart Webb kicks off, introducing Gwen Acton PhD, her background, and the episode setup.
* 01:24 - Defining the technical leader’s challenge:Gwen explains who she helps and the need for leadership skills in technical organizations.
* 04:10 - Why technical backgrounds don’t prepare you for leadership:Gwen highlights the crucial differences between technical problem-solving and managing people, and why logic alone isn’t enough for people problems.
* 07:04 - The confusion and blind spots of technical leaders:Discussion about why what worked as a technical expert often fails in leadership, and the importance of learning new interpersonal skills.
* 09:16 - Letting go and the pains of delegation:Gwen addresses micromanagement, the struggle to trust others, and methods for successful delegation in high-precision environments.
* 11:29 - One piece of leadership advice:Why great leaders ask more (and better) questions instead of always trying to provide answers.
* 13:24 - Audience Q&A – Changing minds and influencing up:Gwen shares tips for helping leaders change direction, including the power of genuine questions and one-on-one influence.
* 17:05 - Gwen’s journey from scientist to leadership expert:Personal story about her path, why group dynamics and leadership in science are so important, and practical solutions for the technical world.
* 20:20 - About the book “Leadership for Scientists and Engineers”:What readers will find inside and why it’s designed as a practical guide for technical leaders.
* 21:34 - What makes a good leader or role model?:Key traits and behaviors ranging from strategic alignment to offering feedback and motivating teams.
* 26:48 - The killer question: What separates great leaders from those who plateau?:Gwen’s reflections on lifelong learning, intentional skill development, and the humility to accept feedback.
* 29:28 - Closing remarks and staying in touch:How to subscribe for future episodes, more about Gwen, and reaching out with questions.
Resources and Links
* 📘 Gwen’s Book: “Leadership for Scientists and Engineers”
* 🆓 Free Leadership Resources:www.systemise.me/free-stuff — Grab templates, guides, and more to boost your leadership journey.
* 💡 Stay Informed:To be first to know about upcoming guests (and ask your questions live!), visit www.systemise.me/subscribe.
* 🔗 Connect with Gwen Acton PhD:Find Gwen on LinkedIn and follow for more expert tips (see show notes for the link).
👍 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and leave your comments and questions below—for Gwen or for future guests!
And don’t forget: keep an eye out for next guest. To submit your own questions, subscribe to our newsletter and join the conversation!
P.S. Loved this episode? Hit reply and let us know what resonated most
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Transcript
Note, this was transcribed using transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
technical leadership, rocket scientists, scientist to leader transition, leadership skills, delegation, micromanagement, influencing skills, team motivation, business leadership, technical expertise, problem solving, people management, organizational success, biotech leadership, tech company leadership, research labs, defense contractors, big pharma R&D, cross-functional teams, leadership blind spots, team ownership, decision making, senior leadership, growth stage companies, feedback in leadership, leadership mindset, communication skills, leadership for scientists, career development, leadership challenges, leadership book
SPEAKER
Gwen Acton, Stuart Webb
Stuart Webb [00:00:55]:
Hi, and welcome back to It’s Not Rocket Science. Five questions over coffee. I’ve got my coffee mug in front of me. I hope Gwen, my guest today, has got her. I’m having a bit of a laugh because as, as soon as we tried to go live, there was a technical error. And the last thing I can remember saying as I was pushing this, which hopefully didn’t come through on the, on the live stream, was why do we work with technology? But here we are. Here we are, Gwen. Welcome to It’s Not Rocket Science.
Stuart Webb [00:01:24]:
Five questions over koio, I’m looking forward enormously to talking to you. Gwen is a really inspiring leader. She works with, well, she, she is a, she’s a former scientist. She’s got a, got a very impressive, very impressive PhD and she now works with leaders in scientific and organizations like that, helping them to take the knowledge that she’s got from transitioning from being a scientist to being a business leader and helping them do the same. So I’m really looking forward to the talk today, the discussion today. So Gwen, welcome to It’s Not Rocket Science. Five questions over coffee.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:02:03]:
Thanks so much, Stuart. It’s great to be here today.
Stuart Webb [00:02:05]:
Look, I’ve just given you, I’ve just given you the build up, so perhaps you better clarify for us exactly who is the leader you’re trying to help. What is it that you bring to them and try and help them to understand that’s perhaps different to their other life when they’re trying to lead a business.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:02:25]:
Yeah. So my, I, I actually was really struck by the title of your podcast, which is it’s not rocket science because that I work with rocket scientists who have become or other brilliant scientists and engineers. Everything from PhD biologists to aerospace engineers, AI designers, you name it. Those, those folks who are highly trained as technical experts who then through no fault of their own end up as leaders either. They’re trying to accomplish things as leaders. They end up heading a group and those leaders lead to, you know, so my ideal client is our leaders or organizations that have these rocket scientists and those rocket scientists are key to the success of those organizations. So in practice, I work with growth stage biotechs and tech companies, government research labs, defense contractors, big pharma, R and D groups, any place where technical leaders are essential for success, any Place where you have these technical, these rocket scientists who are promoted into these leadership positions and need to now accomplish work through teams.
Stuart Webb [00:03:44]:
And what is it about being a scientist which somehow doesn’t quite prepare you? And I know the feeling myself as somebody that’s gone through this, it doesn’t quite prepare you for the business of leadership. What is it they’ve tried to do? What is the thing which they’ve been doing but somehow hasn’t worked for them before they seek some expertise in somebody like yourself.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:04:10]:
Yeah, I think the biggest, one of the biggest challenges when you are a technical expert is, is just not realizing how different leadership is. Right. So you. And that’s why I love the name of your podcast, it’s not Rocket Science. Both, you know, you often use that phrase not rocket science to mean it’s not difficult, which I think we would all agree. Leadership is hard because otherwise you wouldn’t have as many bad leaders out there as we have. Yeah, but the biggest. So that thing is, it’s not rocket science, it’s not technical.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:04:46]:
Right. Typically the technical experts are promoted into leadership positions based on that technical or subject matter expertise. But then all of a sudden suddenly you become, you know, the best scientists and engineers become responsible for motivating and aligning teams. So for example, a deadline is shortened and everyone in the group is complaining. Right. That’s not rocket science. But you need to be able to do that to accomplish rocket science. You need to navigate different conversations.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:05:20]:
For example, you have an underperformer. And again, it’s not rocket science, but you have to, you can’t have underperformers. If you’re going to make rockets or technology or science, you can’t have that. So how. That’s a different skill set influencing across the matrix. Right. Most scientists and engineers, you know, they’re not working on their own. They’re working across an organization, across cross functional teams and they need to get things done and not report to them.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:05:47]:
So that challenge is going from this technical expertise, which is very logical. All of a sudden, walking into a very different set of expectations and needs around leading a group, influencing, negotiating, etc. That are fundamentally different skills. And I think that is often what is overlooked is that just because you’re smart doesn’t mean, just as you’re smart at solving technical problems doesn’t mean that there aren’t things that need to be learned about leadership.
Stuart Webb [00:06:25]:
And sometimes that learning is, it is a blind spot, isn’t it? Because having spent a life being a technical expert and sometimes being lauded for that technical expertise. In fact, people looking up to you because of that technical expertise. You don’t understand why suddenly having to learn, influencing skills is such a, such a challenge. It becomes one of those, well, I just don’t understand why things are just not working the way they used to. So do you find that a lot of the time you’re dealing with people who are confused as to why what they did yesterday isn’t working for them today?
Gwen Acton PhD [00:07:04]:
Absolutely. It can be baffling. And one of the questions many technical experts have is why was that person promoted, not me? Right. Why, you know, why are these people not doing. I was just talking to a leader last week who’s like, you know, I don’t, I don’t understand why everyone in my group isn’t. Science isn’t the most important thing to them. It’s the most important thing to me. So I don’t understand why it’s not the most important thing to everybody else.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:07:33]:
I don’t understand why those investors don’t understand this data. It’s so clear, you know, why, why are they not investing, you know, giving us support for this when it’s so obvious what this data says so, or it’s, you know, why is the team not performing when, when you know, we, we need them to. So absolutely there can be this confusion and then one of the common mistakes is trying to apply those, the existing skill set for solving problems to these people problems. And so you want to come at it like, well I’ll just logically explain to my team why they need to do this and then it doesn’t work. And they’re like, but I just explained logically why we should do this and not realizing the complexity of leaders leadership, of all the non logical features that go into somebody’s decision and the dynamics of the team and how you need to be able to navigate that as well to be a successful leader.
Stuart Webb [00:08:40]:
Yeah, sure. And it’s something that I think it’s often not just the technical, it’s not just learning, relearning those sort of skills that haven’t been taught before, but it’s also having to understand that the technical skills now have to be passed to somebody else to do, doesn’t it? The letting go because you’re now into lead an organization. But you can no longer be that bottleneck. The one person understands all of the technology. That can often be another bottleneck that such leaders need to sort of understand how they, how they pass that knowledge down.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:09:16]:
Yeah. The biggest complaint I hear and I’ve surveyed Multiple thousands, many thousands of technical leaders about what they are frustrated with in their leaders. And the number one complaint is micromanagement.
Stuart Webb [00:09:32]:
Yeah.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:09:32]:
And micromanagement, I truly believe, comes with the absolute best of intentions. It’s a desire because science and technology require precision and, you know, you can’t fluff around or, you know, massage things. There’s. It has to be done correctly. And so when you were a leader, when you were an individual contributor, you would just make sure everything got done to your standards and you’d stay late if you needed to. You would just work until it got done to the quality you thought it should be. And then you become a leader. And all of a sudden if you make that decision to have everybody do it to the quality level you’re used to and just work late, you’re making decisions for a group of people, not just for yourself.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:10:21]:
And that can have implications. But secondly, I think it’s often not appreciated just how challenging delegation is when it is complex and when that quality precision needs to be maintained. So how are you supposed to find the time to train someone to do it? How do you know whether to trust them? So the good news is you can. There are specific skills, specific ways of doing this that technical leaders can learn that will make it much better for them and for their rewards to get work done and not have to do everything themselves. There’s a real tendency to just try and do it themselves because they want to make sure it gets done. Well.
Stuart Webb [00:11:07]:
I guess this leads me to my sort of, my next question really, Graham, which is if you have to give one piece of advice, one valuable piece of advice to a leader, can you, can you, can you do that in, in a, in a simple way? Are there things that you can recommend that they do in order to sort of start the journey to understand exactly how they do this?
Gwen Acton PhD [00:11:29]:
Yeah, one, one is a mindset if you’re a leader, which is to stop trying to be the smartest problem solver in every circumstance or every conversation and start asking better questions. And this is actually very relevant to delegation because you don’t necessarily need to tell them exactly how to do things if you have the right questions to ask them. You ask them questions like, for example, how are you planning to do this? And that sounds really obvious. But without explicitly suggesting this, most of us don’t do that. We just assume they either understand or they don’t. Instead of getting more information about how the person we’re delegating to plans to accomplish something, or just in general asking questions about what other People’s intent is, what are you trying to accomplish here? Asking the group, what are our assumptions? Even asking questions like what am I missing? To folks, asking questions is powerful. First of all, you learn more. You get better ideas and learn more.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:12:38]:
So that’s just, that’s just a basic. It also can really help leaders have to make a lot of decisions and it can really help with decision overload for leaders. It can help distribute some of those decisions. But it also has this wonderful and surprising effect of getting more engagement and building stronger team ownership. Your team wants to do a good job, wants to contribute. So when you ask those kind of questions, not only are you learning from them, but they are able to contribute in a way that they feel more, you know, they, they are more motivated and have more ownership on the project.
Stuart Webb [00:13:24]:
So we’ve had a question come in from one of the people that’s watching us at the moment. Gwen, I don’t know if you can read it there on the screen, but what John wants to know is, do you think it’s hard to get leaders to change their mind, to change direction once they’ve made up their minds?
Gwen Acton PhD [00:13:42]:
Yeah, that’s an amazing question. And I think that really depends on the leader. I certainly have met leaders who struggle with being willing to change their minds. I mean, I’ve seen leaders across the spectrum, some the best leaders, are willing to question their assumptions and revisit and look at things again. I’ve often found sometimes it’s the more senior leaders, especially in the small growth companies I’ve seen, that can sometimes get very stuck in thinking that they’re right despite the evidence. So one of a frequent topic people ask me is how do I influence leaders above me? If I don’t believe in their decision, how do I influence it? And I’m going to come back to that typical, you know, that suggestion I just made a minute ago about asking questions. One of the most powerful ways to change the opinion of somebody else is to ask them questions. And genuine questions, not challenging.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:14:45]:
Well, ask them why did they choose. Like if you think they should have chosen A and they chose B, you know, ask them why did you choose B? You know, really want to understand your reasons. And sometimes you can see they actually have some very good reasons. Sometimes you see that there’s a flaw in their thinking. And so you have the possibility of saying, well, actually, you know, the data doesn’t suggest that you’re relying on an old set of data or an old set of conclusions that we have moved on from. So, yes, and no. One of the hardest places for a leader to change their mind is in front of a group. So you’re much better off if you want to change a leader’s mind to have a one on one conversation, to go at it with respect and questions, assume they probably had a good reason for it, for good reasons, and try and get beneath what their reasons are so you can uncover whatever might be a disconnect with that.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:15:43]:
But yes, that can be a real challenge when you see a leader in a making a decision that you don’t agree with and they won’t change their mind. Sometimes they have information you don’t have. I remember there have been times in my career where a leader made a baffling decision and it was only later that I found out a senior to me that they had information, knew something that I didn’t and I failed to recognize. I was just, I was just missing some of the information.
Stuart Webb [00:16:13]:
And thank you for that question, John. You may be watching this on repeat, thinking, I would love to have asked Gwen a question when she was live. So if you do have that, please drop a question in the comments below. Gwen will be looking out for any comments and she will come back and she will answer them or if she doesn’t, I will, I will point them in the direction to make sure that Gwen does it. So if you haven’t had your question answered live, make sure you drop one in the comments below us and we will come back and answer those questions. Because when you’ve got somebody with the sort of expertise and skill set that Gwen’s got, take advantage of that when she’s giving up free time in order to answer these questions. So thank you for that question, John, really appreciate it. And do you, do you, do you want to give us a little bit.
Stuart Webb [00:17:05]:
Gwen, can you, how did you get from, from what you were doing as a, as a, as a biologist, I mean, give us a little bit of that. But how did you get from that to what you’re doing now?
Gwen Acton PhD [00:17:20]:
So yeah, so Stuart, I was, I was trained a PhD scientist at MIT, did bench work and at some point I realized the academic track was not my passion, it wasn’t how I wanted to pursue it. And it took me a while to realize that one of the ways I am still a scientist at heart and one of the things I became very aware of is that scientists, engineers, no one essentially these days does their work entirely on their own. We are all working in groups, right? We’re at the minimum, we’re sharing data, we’re sharing Information, we’re sharing equipment, we’re sharing resources, we’re sharing space, et cetera. As soon as you have a group performing a task or interacting interdependent with each other in any, in any way, you start to have leadership issues. And what I saw when I began was that, that scientists and engineers think differently in many ways than many other folks. They’re more logical, they’re more fact based. They want to know the reasons why. They want to have specific practical suggestions for how to accomplish them.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:18:37]:
And as a PhD scientist out of MIT and having had leadership experience, I realized this was a way that we could make a significant impact on science and improve the practice of science and technology. Because they’re very, very, I mean, they’re obviously different. There are many overlapping issues there that we could improve the practice of technology and science through better leadership practices that are targeted for what? For specifically for being working in a technical environment. So, for example, there are many common solutions like build trust. And I’m like, I, you know, you can’t, if you tell a scientist or engineer, build trust, it doesn’t, it doesn’t have meaning, right? It’s because none of us, first of all, it’s not a well defined term, secondly, that doesn’t involve specific suggestions. So I realized I had a unique perspective here of being a scientist and also being trained in leadership and being able to bring that message so that we could have better science and technology which will benefit us all. And I do believe it is having an impact in how we practice, how we practice science and technology for the better.
Stuart Webb [00:20:01]:
I know we’ve got a shot on screen of your, your book that you’ve, you’ve written and I know this is, and we will put a link to Gwen’s book. But Gwen, do you want to give us just a highlight of what you tried to capture in your book before we come to another question from John?
Gwen Acton PhD [00:20:20]:
Yeah, so the, the book is Leadership for Scientists and Engineers. It came out about last year and it is designed specifically. My goal here is that any scientist or leader through who, through no fault of their own ends up in a leadership position, that somebody hands them this book so that they understand what the expectations are. I’ve had, it’s got over 80 five star reviews on Amazon. It’s designed to be very readable. You can read, you can pick up any chapter. That’s how I like to take in information. There are many, many specific suggestions, many examples, many specific things to say and do in certain situations, but also perspective as to why certain things are Important when you are a leader that are different than being an individual contributor and why you have to think about it differently, why you have to learn new skills, what are some of the, you know, communication.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:21:23]:
It’s different when you’re a leader. People hear you differently than when we
Stuart Webb [00:21:27]:
will, we will make sure that the link to Gwen’s book is in the show notes for this show. But we’ve got another question from John with what kind of behavior do you think is the most important for a good leader or role model and not allow you to sort of spend the next two days answering that? Because I think that’s, I think that’s a really difficult thing to answer.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:21:53]:
Well, I think it’s partly dependent on the organization, what you’re trying to accomplish. So if you have, if, if so if you’re at the, if you’re at a senior level in an organization, if you’re at a CEO, you know, some of the things you need to model are making sure to motivate the employees, making sure everybody knows and aligns around what is important that organization. So that is incredibly important. When you’re at the senior level, it’s important to think strategically, not just, not just react, but to be proactive and think about where’s the organization going to be five or 10, you know, whatever amount of time I work with companies that are thinking very, very things change so much, they’re thinking about a year, two years. But you know, two years, five years, 10 years, whatever it might be. So that is, that is at the top of the organization. If you are a frontline manager, meaning you have individual contributors as your reports or your, as your team, then some of the behavior that’s really important is to make sure you support and you know, support their, their, their careers, make sure they understand what is going on, mentor them under, make sure they are supported in how they do their jobs. And you know, you use the term good leader, which I love and I actually one of the exercises we do in workshops, we have a leadership boot camp workshop and one of the things we do is we do a brainstorm is what is good versus bad leadership.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:23:31]:
And I actually have a list in the book about some of what folks, you know, some of the characteristics that they say and technical expertise is expected for a technical leader, but it is only a small fraction. I’m just trying to find the page here. Some good, effective, good leadership skills. It’s communicating well, offering useful feedback, conveying a compelling vision, motivating and inspiring. Those are just a few examples I’ve Again, pulled thousands of technical experts and they all agree on these are good leadership. So important for a good leader is to make sure, I mean, it’s complex like you said, talk for days and make sure they’re getting work done, but also doing it in a way like I’m a firm believer. We sometimes think that leadership either has to be like, I have to be firm and unpleasant or I have to be so nice but things don’t get done. And I’m like, no, I don’t.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:24:32]:
I think you can be both fair and firm, get things done, but also have teams and groups really excited about the work. Right. In fact, most people are motivated to do a good job. Like that is their biggest motivation. If you’re in a science or technical group, the folks in it, most of them are incredibly motivated by doing a good job. And the thing that’s demotivating is when you can’t do a good job. So one of the most important things a leader can do is make sure the team has the resources, the support, the information, the clarity, the feedback, etc. So that they can do a good job.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:25:14]:
And I think that is one of the aspects of good leadership. But again, I sort of wrote the whole book. I love the question is actually about good leadership because just because you’re promoted into a position doesn’t mean you’re a good leader. Right? Is right. Just because you’re the CEO, just because you’re the founder, just because you’re an entrepreneur doesn’t mean your director, vp, whatever you are, your title doesn’t mean you are good at what you do. And I think that’s important to remember. Right. It’s just, it’s not just your title, it’s what, how, how good are you actually at, at, at being a leader?
Stuart Webb [00:25:52]:
Brilliant. Gwen, I’ve got, I’ve got one question left. Really. And thank you once again, John from, from Holland for asking those questions and I really appreciate you putting them in the comments. As I say, if there are more comments, please drop them below. Gwen, Will, will get on to those and we’ll answer them in as soon as she. As soon as you can, but go. And I’ve got one, one final question to ask you.
Stuart Webb [00:26:16]:
You must be thinking at the moment, this has been an interesting discussion, but he hasn’t asked me that one killer question, which actually is sort of the real question that everybody should ask me. Somebody who understands how, how you make great leaders of scientists and, and, and, and, and people who have a background as being a great technical expert. So I’M gonna have to be honest. I don’t know the question. So therefore, I’m gonna have to ask you what is the question I should have asked you? And once you have told us what the question is, you better answer it for us as well.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:26:48]:
Sure. Excellent. And I love that question. And the question I was thinking about here was, what separates the. You know, what separates technical leaders who plateau or aren’t great leaders from those who become truly excellent transformational leaders? And I think there are two aspects of that. One is a willingness to learn, and. And the second piece is intentionally developing those leadership skills. People often mistakenly think I’m either born a leader or I’m not, but the evidence suggests completely otherwise.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:27:26]:
There are specific set of skills we can learn to become much better leaders. The best leaders I have ever known were willing to look at their blind spots. They were willing to be honest about what they created, could and couldn’t do, and their strengths and weaknesses, and then set about intentionally trying to improve what they could. And so I. The best leaders, honestly, I have seen. Take, take. You know, we’ll sit in. You know, sometimes I’m working with a group of leaders who have just transitioned, technical folks who have just transitioned to leadership.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:28:02]:
And I’ve often had CEOs in those rooms and just sitting there listening and trying to figure out do I have any gaps, you know, in. In my knowledge that I can fill in here. And some of the worst leaders I’ve seen, or the ones who plateau, should I say, are ones that I’m like, they’re above learning about leadership because they think. They. They. They think, well, I’m the vp, so I must be good, right? Because that’s what my title is, so I must have done things right. And all I can think of is, you know, as. As a scientist or an engineer or, you know, just as a.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:28:38]:
As a curious person. It’s like, can we do it better? Right? Do we want to be satisfied with what we have? Just because you’ve achieved what you have doesn’t mean you couldn’t do it better. And so constantly questioning what could be better. And part of that is being willing to listen to feedback.
Stuart Webb [00:28:59]:
Brilliant. Gwen, I’ve got to thank you very much for spending a few minutes with us and doing this. One quick thing from me, if you would like to. To hear about the sort of people that we get onto this show and. And come on and talk about these things. I mean, these people are giving up free time and giving you free advice and free. Frankly, who doesn’t want somebody to do that. So if you’d like to do that, just go to the link that’s on screen now.
Stuart Webb [00:29:28]:
Www.systemize.me. subscribe. There’s a simple form there, asks for two things. Your first name, your email address. That’s all it’ll do. And then once a week, you’ll get an email from me saying who’s coming up on this show so that you can do as John did during today, ask live questions of people like Gwen and get live answers to their questions. And who doesn’t want somebody helping you do that with your business problems? Gwen, I’ve got to thank you for being here today. Just doing what you have done, which is answering questions, telling us about this.
Stuart Webb [00:30:00]:
I really love some of the stuff you’ve done. And if, if, if we will be putting into the show notes, links to your book and things like that so people can get to know more about you. We’ll also put more about where you can find Gwen on LinkedIn. Follow her and you’ll get some really great advice coming, coming from Gwen. So thank you, Gwen, for coming on and spending a few minutes with us today.
Gwen Acton PhD [00:30:24]:
Thank you so much, Stuart. It’s been great being here and I loved, you know, just great questions. So thank you so much.
Stuart Webb [00:30:30]:
Thank you,
Gwen Acton PhD [00:30:44]:
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