I am feeling deeply honoured to receive the TUM Supervisory Award 2024 of the School of Medicine and Health from the TUM Graduate School at TUM Universitätsklinikum Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München.
To grasp the importance of teaching and learning for our society in general I like the metaphor of a dwarf standing on the shoulders of giants. This concept can be traced back to the 12th century and is attributed to Bernard de Chartres. As “dwarfs”, we can learn to get to the boundaries of our current knowledge and to advance science, but we need teachers to lift us up and a good teacher might even lift us up higher. I am very lucky that I have met many “giants” during my academic career so far, who were able to teach me important concepts, explained complex ideas to me, but who also – which is certainly even more important – were able to arouse my curiosity to learn and supported me. I would like to pass on this experience:
To me, teaching means to guide and support my students in their education. Most importantly, I strive to nurture their joy to learn, to create and to understand. Both in my lectures and in supervising students in their research projects I establish an atmosphere of mutual trust by a clear communication of my learning objectives. Besides specialization on the material, I convey the important message that critical thinking and questioning of the status quo is what makes a scientist. This also involves thinking across disciplines at the frontiers of our current knowledge. Interaction with students is therefore at the core of my teaching philosophy – I tell my students that the ability to ask the right questions is more important than knowing the correct answer and encourage them to ask good questions and to think beyond their disciplines. I consider myself as mentor of my students, supporting them in their learning process and contributing to their intellectual growth.
What defines a successful leader in my opinion? Leadership must be personal in order to ensure open trusting communication that enables collaborative problem solving and innovation. I like the ideas of Edgar Schein and Peter Schein about this: according to them a reimagined form of leadership should coincide with emerging trends of relationship building, complex group work, diverse workforces, and cultures in which everyone feels psychologically safe. “Humble Leadership” calls for “here and now” humility based on a deeper understanding of the constantly evolving complexities of interpersonal, group and intergroup relationships that require shifting our focus towards the process of group dynamics and collaboration. “Humble Leadership” at all levels is the key to achieving the creativity, adaptiveness, and agility that organizations will need to survive and grow.
