The Academic Career Path Nobody Talks About: What Success Really Means in Entrepreneurship

Jan de Vries · 2026-09-25

What does it actually mean to build a successful academic career in entrepreneurship today? That's the question that brought about 20 people together at Trinity Business School in Dublin on May 14, 2026, for the ECSB Professional Development Workshop. PhD researchers, early-career academics, seasoned scholars, speakers, and organizers all sat in the same room. Not to present polished papers. To talk honestly about what academic life really looks like. ### The Straight Line That Isn't We're taught to see academic careers as a simple sequence. Publish. Secure funding. Get promoted. Build an international reputation. Check, check, check. But here's the thing: that path is more fiction than reality. For most scholars, the journey is messy. It's full of moments of achievement, sure. But also uncertainty. Transitions. And sometimes, that sinking feeling of being lost or disconnected from why you started in the first place. The workshop leaned into that messiness. Participants questioned the conventional narrative and got personal about what success means to them. Not to their department. Not to the metrics. To them. ### When Metrics Start Calling the Shots Higher education is increasingly shaped by performance metrics, publication rankings, research impact measures, and institutional expectations. These things matter. Nobody's arguing otherwise. But as one participant put it during a breakout session: *"We've built a system that can measure everything except what makes the work worth doing."* That tension ran through the entire day. Participants reflected on how these measures can narrow the way scholarly success gets defined. And how easy it is to lose yourself in the numbers. ### A Day Built for Reflection, Not Just Talk The program mixed keynotes with interactive workshops, creative exercises, and open conversation. It wasn't your typical academic conference. Dr. Deirdre McGillicuddy from University College Dublin kicked things off with "Educaring from the Heart: How to Nurture Your Wellbeing and Rediscover Your Purpose in Education." Her session set a thoughtful tone. Wellbeing, self-care, purpose. Not exactly the standard opening act at an academic gathering. After coffee and informal networking, participants dove into "Through the Looking Glass," a reflective activity that asked them to examine their own academic journeys and aspirations. Then Dr. Briga Hynes from the University of Limerick led "Getting to Where We Need To – A Gender Perspective." This one sparked real conversation about gender, equity, and inclusion in academia. The structural barriers. The opportunities to build something more inclusive. Next came "Picking up the Pieces," an activity designed to connect the morning's discussions to personal experience. Participants identified challenges, recognized resilience, and thought about what comes next. ### The Unspoken Rules We All Navigate After lunch, Professor Gary Kerr from Atlantic Technological University delivered an interactive session called "Playing the GAME: Understanding What Others Want… Shhhhhh." Through discussion and participation, attendees explored the often-unspoken expectations of institutions, reviewers, colleagues, and stakeholders. How do you navigate these systems without losing sight of your own values? That was the question hanging in the air. The day wrapped up with a creative exercise: "A Creative Pause – Vocalising What We Are Anticipating: Hanging Thoughts." Participants shared hopes, concerns, and ambitions for their future careers. ### What Sticks With You If there's one takeaway from the day, it's this: meaningful academic careers can take many different forms. There's no single template. No one-size-fits-all path. Developing an authentic scholarly identity takes work. It means maintaining your personal values even when the system pushes you toward conformity. And it means recognizing that success isn't just about what you publish or how much funding you secure. Sometimes it's about staying true to why you started. Even when the path forward isn't clear.