WHAT MANAGEMENT EXPECTS OF RESEARCH 309 More important than the physical facilities are the people who use them. The main problem we face today is finding good research personnel. We simply do not have any adequate yardstick by which we can measure an individual's potential value. However, some things we do know. Tech- nical background is necessary, and the more the better, but this alone does not qualify an individual. We sometimes wonder whether in obtaining a broad knowledge of basic physics and chemistry a man does not sacrifice something else. Management expects their top research personnel to have a rather intimate knowledge of their business, and, for example, not to embark on a long and expensive study of means for producing cheaper buggy whips. It is presumed that the research people will always be on the alert for new products which may come to their attention. This, too, is not always associated with pure scientific excellence. I understand that Professor Kipping spent many years studying the silicones and attempting to produce crystalline products which he could characterize. He felt that his work had been unsuccessful because all he was able to make were gluey, resinous ma- terials. Last year, these useless products were sold (with some modifica- tions) by the three producers to the extent of twenty-five million dollars. By contrast, a research worker disposed of his cigarette quickly when a visitor arrived--on a laboratory dish where it contaminated and was con- taminated by a chemical under investigation. When "allclear" was sounded, he resumed his smoking, noticed an unusual sweetness--and a new competi- tor of saccharin was discovered. What was admittedly poor laboratory practice was offset by a brilliant combination of observation, further investi- gation, and, in a word, creative industrial research. And this brings up the next point which I would like to make about industrial research personnel. Their effectiveness is dependent to a con- siderable extent on the broadness of their knowledge of industry. While they need not necessarily be experts in any field, an understanding of many industries and their problems can be tremendously helpful. Many useless gluey, resinous materials have a use if one has a wide enough range of inter- ests. One of our best industrial research men believes that the greatest single liability that the research man can have is knowing too much. An Ameri- can humorist--I think it was Josh Billings--once said, "It ain't the things we don't know what makes us so ignorant, it's the things we know that ain't so." In scientific discussions of papermaking, one usually finds a complete discussion of the structure of cellulose and the extensive work which has been done on this subject. But paper is not made of pure cellulose. Here again, exploratory technology may be hampered by knowing too much of what is in the books, worse still, uncritical belief in it, and still worse, allow-

310 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS ing it to prevent courageous new research. This emphasizes another im- portant requirement in research personnel--an open mind, an unwillingness to believe a thing cannot be done, or a lack of belief that means may not be found to surmount what appear to be insuperable obstacles. New indus- tries are constantly blossoming because of individuals who disregard the sign "Unsolvable Problem, Keep Out" and sneak around and come in by the back door. Management has a right to expect this enthusiastic, opti- mistic, and unorthodox approach. One test which quickly separates the men from the boys is the attitude of people toward problems. To anyone worth having around, a problem is a potential opportunity--not the kind of problem which results, for example, from a boiler explosion, but one like that described in this excerpt from a salesman's report. "Yesterday, I called on the X Company. Mr. Blank, their Purchasing Agent, said that they expect shortly to curtail greatly their use of our #1 grade wool felt. It seems that they have been experi- menting with a new flocked paper product which, while it is much lower in tensile strength than our felt, is claimed to be adequate for their purposes in many applications." Crises like this often stimulate one to think of new approaches that lead to great technical and economic advances. So far I have been talking of the technical phases of research--those which call for a knowledge of physics and chemistry. Today, manage- ment is looking more to research to co-ordinate the technical with the economic aspects of the program. This is not, of course, because econom- ics are better recognized for their importance, bu_t rather because it has been found that uncertainties of crystal ball gazing can be considerably replaced by systematic studies carried out by chemists, physicists, engi- neers, and marketing experts. Patent matters are almost solely the responsibility of research working in conjunction with patent counsel. Research people may not be expected to know•much patent law, but management certainly expects that research will initiate the actions necessary to ensure that the investment in research is protected so far as is feasible legally and economically. Close collaboration between sales and research is usually essential. Not only can sales benefit by technical suggestions for favorable sales presenta- tion, but more important, research is made aware of shortcomings which can lead to better products and is stimulated to greater productivity. Industrial research has a responsibility for support to advertising and sales. In one instance, a company won the award for advertising excellence three years consecutively through a close working relationship with research. Lowering of the barrier between what some scientists call the hucksters and what some business men call the long-hairs would benefit both parties and, I believe, the public. But both would have to modify their extreme charac- teristics that keep them apart.