Ego aside, Craig Venter truly had his team's best interests at heart. Throughout most of the book we were only given glimpses of Venter through the filter of his ego; How he was looked at from the academic community, from his competition, and from those he did business with. From this perspective he came off as cold and selfish, without regard for anyone else. However, every once in a while we were given a glimpse of the man behind the ego. Venter was a leader. He inspired those around him and pushed those he employed further than they ever imagined. He was able to build a team of the best and brightest and he recognized that.
"Venter liked to say his greatest talent was hiring people who were smarter than he was." (Shreeve, 137) This was our first glimpse of humility from Venter. He recognized the expertise of others and used their skills to build the most comprehensive organization possible. Not only did he find scientists good at their jobs, he found scientists with a reason to prove themselves. This meant they had passion, and if they failed it was their reputation on the line. As evidence, Venter had managed to scrounge up both Hamilton Smith, known as the best bench scientist in the field, and Gene Myers, the brains behind the shotgun method of mapping the human genome. The two men were crucial to the mapping of the human genome.
But even more important than his knack for hiring the best was Venter's ability to keep his team's morale so high. Every way you looked at it, Venter and everyone else at Celera should have been stressed beyond belief, but Venter's unparalleled optimism and high spirits were contagious. On top of his positive outlook, Venter was able to pick up on just how far his employees could be pushed before they reached their breaking point. When he realized Gene Myers was far too worried, Venter invited him out to a race on his yacht. This shows his ability to build a team and then sustain that team until they cross the finish line.
If nothing else, Venter was a leader, and a great leader at that.
References
Shreeve, James. The Genome War: How Craig Venter Tried to Capture the Code of Life and Save the World. Ballantine Books: New York, 2004. Print.
Holly, fantastic post! Shreeve's novel paints Venter in both positive and negative lights (due to his third-party retelling), and I think it is up to the reader to make their opinion on Venter and his work. I also think that Venter is often unfairly seen in a negative light for his ambition and want to understand the human race. He was a great leader and humble when he needed to be; he assembled an amazing and intelligent team that were strengths to his weaknesses. His optimism and ambition were unstoppable and infectious and he lead his team through extremely difficult and trying years. I respect Venter and his work on sequencing the genome. He really was the man for the job.
ReplyDeleteI agree completely! While he was arrogant at times, his dedication was actually honorable. I think that people fail to give him credit because they can't see past the mask he puts on to fool the world of his confidence. I admit, even while reading the book, I was often irritated by his bravado. However, looking back at the book as a whole story, Venter has a lot of depth as a person, and even more as a scientist. Great post!
ReplyDeleteGreat post! My blog revolved around Venter's ego and shortcomings, however, I love the way you looked around his ego and pointed out the better things about him. I would truly agree that admitting to hiring people smarter than him was his first glimpse of humility. You are very accurate in your assessment and I really loved that you were able to look past what I, and many others, only saw (his ego) and come out with his true strengths.
ReplyDeleteWhat a unique way to view and interpret the person of Craig Venter. Reading the text, I picked up on predominately negative aspects and found him to be wholly distasteful. You picked up on qualities of his personality that I skipped right over or chose not to dwell on based on some of my initial impressions of him. I really appreciate you sharing your take on Venter.
ReplyDeleteI really like your perspective on Craig Venter. It's so easy to read only the negative traits about him because they are ones so obviously on the surface of his personality. I love that you were able to look past Venter's initial impression to really take stock of of who is is as a person. This piece was very well thought out.
ReplyDeleteCraig was definitely a great organizer and team leader. In the Human Genome Project, both on the public and private sides, we saw a great number of experts in their fields, but we saw only a few people who could get all of these experts working together smoothly and effectively. With Collins and the public effort, while the author’s view is against him, we saw him try to effectively trap members of the public effort and almost bully them as a way to keep the project running, which often is not an effective leadership strategy. While the editorial stance taken here probably affected the way both leaders were presented, Craig is presented as an effective manager who brought his team to success.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that the world views Venter with such an immense bias. This man truly has a good heart--at least that is what I want to believe--and has given so many people the opportunity that other scientists have overlooked. He created such a powerful, passionate team and gave them the recognition they deserved and relit their flame of passion for their work. While he does have an abrasive personality, sometimes it is a defense mechanism that protects his interests. Venter honestly did some amazing work, and it´s a shame that he usually is only remembered for his ego.
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