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.

WHAT MANAGEMENT EXPECTS OF RESEARCH 311 An essential feature in a good research program is an adequate and effec- tive presentation of the results. Too many reports to management resemble articles in our scientific journals. The important points in these reports simply never reach a management that has neither time nor ability to comb them through for significant findings. As a result, excellent work has been made useless. This matter of reports is so important that we recently acquired the services of a competent specialist on this subject. One of his contributions has been in helping our staff write summaries to go at the beginning of the report and which present the important findings so clearly and concisely that a busy management can appraise the project and appreciate the action indicated. Reports should permit management to answer these questions: Where have we been? Where are we now? Where do we go from here? What is it all worth, supposing we get there? Conferences with management rarely center around the necessity for synthesizing alpha alpha' his para para' something or other. Conferences are more likely to be concerned with something like an easing in the supply of sisal fiber and if its water absorption could be reduced and, if so, could it compete with Fiberglas on a pound-for-pound base. Above all, perhaps management expects of research an understanding of manageme•at objec- tives. Research leadership should first find where management wants to go and help it go there. A glib answer is that management often does not know where it wants to go that research should show it. Now one of the principal responsibilities of research directorship is that of helping management define its research objectives. Those objectives must be defined in terms both desirable and reasonably attain/•ble. The early stages of a research program, when man- agement and research agree upon an assignment, are vital. But helping management define its objectives is not telling it where it wants to go. If management is competent, it has defined, or will define-- perhaps with financial, market, and technological advice--its basic objec- tives. If it is in the cosmetic business, it does not welcome diversion of much of its research fund and effort from nail enamel to an automobile lacquer merely because a chemist dropped some on a fender and thought it had promise. ' • I am aware that unless I expand this point, I shall have my favorite re- search word, serendipity, thrown at me. I am aware that many great dis- coveries have been made in this way. But I am also aware of the stubborn- ness of some research men, and even research departments, in pursuing ob- jectives outside the company's area of interest after management has evaluated the project from its point of view and decided not to pursue it. It may be that the company's working capital does not permit even serious preliminary explorations of a new product in the paint and lacquer field. It may be that management knows better than the chemist that its net