Dr. Grabowski was Vice President of Chemistry in the Process Research Department at the Merck Research Labs, and spend 39 years working on the design and development of practical processes for compounds of interest to the company.   He is now a consultant in chemical development, and sits on a number of chemistry-related advisory boards.  He says, "So my continuing advise to new process chemists is to Ignore the lore of the chemistry - the lore is our enemy - run the damn reaction.  If it fails for the anticipated reasons, you don't have to tell the boss!  If it works, the boss will think you are a genius."