Steve Tippins tells graduate students stuck with absent dissertation chairs to stop waiting and start leading. Share drafts, propose deadlines, and frame emails as feedback invitations rather than requests for ideas. This shifts the dynamic and keeps your timeline moving.
How do I help a hands-off chair help me move forward? First thing you want to do is take the lead. Don't wait for direction. And this can be hard for a number of people to get and figure out how to do because we hold these chairs, these professors, in awe. They have doctorates. Oh my gosh, I can't question them, or I can't suggest things. I'll just wait. They'll tell me what the right thing to do is. And unfortunately, when you're waiting, breathe. 4 weeks and just spending money to wait because I, I just can't talk to them because they're special and important. You're special and you're important. By taking the lead, I mean saying, here's my document and I'm hoping to have it reviewed by this date so that we can then move to the next step. This also puts them in a mindset of replying to your ideas instead of waiting for them to generate the ideas. Drop the word help in the comments and I'll send you the link for our free dissertation help community.
