Your degree is a trusted symbol

If you have been to a region and have become a certified traveller for that trip, people will trust you to tell them what to watch out for and what not to miss. Especially if the journey has been a demanding and risky one, others will depend on your open and reliable account.

Consequently, with every degree you earn, you do not only get a ticket to move to your next challenge, but also a much less discussed obligation to act according to the degree you earned. With each piece of accreditation, people will increase their attention to what you have to say. Not only will they increasingly depend on your judgement, but those institutions who certified your work trust you to a certain degree to at least be able to act in accordance with the standards of their degree.

Research, to a degree, also means building a track record. This track record of past projects, publications, and programmes helps you grow, but it also endows you with credibility. Keep this credibility in mind when you plan your next steps. Nothing stands in the way of making your credibility as focused and specialized or diverse and broad as you would like. But consciously using your credibility to lead people astray is inadvisable, for many more reasons than just leaving your credibility in tatters eventually.

(This is a preview section. The full chapter on this topic continues with the sections “Rough coordinates”, “Train of thought”, “In essence”, “To reflect”, “Two travellers’ tales”, “Devil’s advocate”, and “How to tackle”.)