The player is loading ...
April 26, 2024
Why mentoring matters
In this episode, we delve into the crucial role of mentorship in personal and professional development. Drawing from various experiences, we explore why mentoring matters and its profound impact on individuals striving for success.
Key Points Discussed:
- Expanding Vision: Mentorship expands one's vision, leaving mentees better off than before.
- Shortening the Distance: Mentorship accelerates progress by shortening the distance traveled towards goals.
- Opening Doors: Mentors provide access to opportunities and networks that may otherwise be inaccessible to mentees.
- Connecting to Networks: Mentoring connects individuals to diverse networks, broadening their reach and influence.
- Facilitating Growth: Mentoring fosters personal and professional growth, equipping mentees with new skills and perspectives.
- Providing Tools: Mentors offer valuable tools and strategies that empower mentees to navigate challenges and seize opportunities.
- Preparing Future Mentors: Mentees should be prepared to become great mentors themselves, perpetuating a legacy of positive mentorship.
Links and Resources Mentioned:
- Mentorship Matters: A Guide to Effective Mentoring
- The Power of Mentorship: Lessons Learned from Successful Mentors
Call to Action: Whether you're seeking a mentor or aspiring to become one, take action today to foster meaningful mentorship relationships. Reach out to potential mentors or offer your guidance to someone in need. Together, we can create a culture of supportive mentorship that uplifts and empowers individuals to achieve their fullest potential.
Transcript
1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,860
Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast, where academic clinicians learn the skills
2
00:00:05,860 --> 00:00:11,260
to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor.
3
00:00:11,260 --> 00:00:17,340
As clinicians, we spend a decade or more as trainees learning to take care of patients.
4
00:00:17,340 --> 00:00:22,380
When we finally start our careers, we want to build research programs, but then we find
5
00:00:22,380 --> 00:00:27,780
that our years of clinical training did not adequately prepare us to lead our research
6
00:00:27,780 --> 00:00:29,200
program.
7
00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:35,480
Through no fault of our own, we struggle to find mentors, and when we can't, we quit.
8
00:00:35,480 --> 00:00:40,580
However, clinicians hold the keys to the greatest research breakthroughs.
9
00:00:40,580 --> 00:00:46,200
For this reason, the Clinician Researcher podcast exists to give academic clinicians
10
00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:51,800
the tools to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor.
11
00:00:51,800 --> 00:01:01,100
Now introducing your host, Toyosi Onwuemene.
12
00:01:01,100 --> 00:01:03,180
Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast.
13
00:01:03,180 --> 00:01:08,080
I'm your host, Toyosi Onwuemene, and what an absolute pleasure to be talking with you today.
14
00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:12,240
Today I'm especially excited to talk about why mentoring matters.
15
00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:14,780
Why mentoring matters.
16
00:01:14,780 --> 00:01:20,220
And this topic comes to me kind of in the midst of actually at the end of our annual
17
00:01:20,220 --> 00:01:24,660
meeting where one of my mentees gave a presentation.
18
00:01:24,660 --> 00:01:29,660
And I will tell you that I was the mentor in the audience listening to his every word,
19
00:01:29,660 --> 00:01:35,940
literally hanging on his every word and so proud, so proud of the words that were coming
20
00:01:35,940 --> 00:01:38,140
out of his mouth, of the things that he said.
21
00:01:38,140 --> 00:01:41,260
I was so, so proud.
22
00:01:41,260 --> 00:01:43,660
And I mean, he did an outstanding job.
23
00:01:43,660 --> 00:01:45,620
He did a fantastic job.
24
00:01:45,620 --> 00:01:52,660
And at the end, I was so happy to be able to tell him, you did awesome.
25
00:01:52,660 --> 00:01:53,820
And why did he do awesome?
26
00:01:53,820 --> 00:01:57,820
Well, he did awesome because honestly, he's an awesome person.
27
00:01:57,820 --> 00:02:01,260
But he also did awesome because I helped him do awesome.
28
00:02:01,260 --> 00:02:03,460
I helped him do awesome.
29
00:02:03,460 --> 00:02:07,020
And I want to own my role in helping him do awesome.
30
00:02:07,020 --> 00:02:10,900
But I mean, it's my responsibility as a mentor.
31
00:02:10,900 --> 00:02:17,340
And also what a privilege it is to watch him just take the feedback and just be better.
32
00:02:17,340 --> 00:02:18,860
I mean, so awesome.
33
00:02:18,860 --> 00:02:24,420
Anyway, so I'm really writing about why mentoring matters from the perspective of a mentor,
34
00:02:24,420 --> 00:02:29,780
of a mentee, but also to some extent from the other perspective of a mentee who needs
35
00:02:29,780 --> 00:02:31,060
a mentor.
36
00:02:31,060 --> 00:02:35,300
And the reason I am sharing this story from two perspectives is because you know what?
37
00:02:35,300 --> 00:02:37,980
I didn't feel like I had that kind of mentoring.
38
00:02:37,980 --> 00:02:42,660
I didn't feel like I had mentors who really valued me or really thought I was going to
39
00:02:42,660 --> 00:02:43,660
amount to much.
40
00:02:43,660 --> 00:02:48,980
I mean, I had mentors who helped me and I want to acknowledge all the help that I received
41
00:02:48,980 --> 00:02:52,180
and I want to celebrate my mentors and thank them for it.
42
00:02:52,180 --> 00:02:55,740
But I don't know that I ever got to a point in my life where I feel like I had a mentor
43
00:02:55,740 --> 00:03:00,440
who actually believed in me, who believed I was going to succeed and who I felt like,
44
00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:03,260
you know, gave me everything.
45
00:03:03,260 --> 00:03:09,580
And again, now that I'm a mentor, I recognize how hard it is to give of anything to anybody,
46
00:03:09,580 --> 00:03:12,820
let alone so much to somebody who you don't even know.
47
00:03:12,820 --> 00:03:13,820
You don't know their mother, you don't know their father.
48
00:03:13,820 --> 00:03:17,100
You're like, I don't know who you are, where you're from.
49
00:03:17,100 --> 00:03:18,260
But it's a lot.
50
00:03:18,260 --> 00:03:19,860
It's a lot to be a mentor.
51
00:03:19,860 --> 00:03:21,300
But mentoring matters.
52
00:03:21,300 --> 00:03:25,860
And even though it's a sacrifice, even though it costs so much to be a mentor, it absolutely
53
00:03:25,860 --> 00:03:27,060
matters.
54
00:03:27,060 --> 00:03:29,080
And it's absolutely the way that we must all go.
55
00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:33,180
We must all be great mentors, even if we were never mentored well, or even if we were
56
00:03:33,180 --> 00:03:36,820
mentored to a place that we hope that we could have gotten more.
57
00:03:36,820 --> 00:03:42,000
So anything that anybody gives you, just be thankful, but also recognize that no matter
58
00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,180
how great a mentor you had, you can do better.
59
00:03:45,180 --> 00:03:49,740
So if you had a great mentor to some extent, it's kind of like your, I don't want to say
60
00:03:49,740 --> 00:03:51,940
moral obligation, like you got to do this.
61
00:03:51,940 --> 00:03:57,860
But if you had excellent mentor mentoring, then wow, what an opportunity to pay it forward
62
00:03:57,860 --> 00:04:00,420
and then expand on that mentoring, make it so much better.
63
00:04:00,420 --> 00:04:04,740
But if you didn't have great mentoring, it's not an excuse to say, well, I didn't have
64
00:04:04,740 --> 00:04:07,860
a great mentor, therefore I don't owe you anything.
65
00:04:07,860 --> 00:04:12,220
But to say, hey, if I didn't have this, how can I give it to somebody?
66
00:04:12,220 --> 00:04:13,400
Okay.
67
00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:16,020
So I want to talk about why mentoring matters.
68
00:04:16,020 --> 00:04:20,940
And I want to talk again from the perspective of the mentee looking to the mentor, but also
69
00:04:20,940 --> 00:04:26,540
looking at it from my perspective as a mentor, really at enhancing the experience of my mentee.
70
00:04:26,540 --> 00:04:27,540
Now here's the thing.
71
00:04:27,540 --> 00:04:30,700
The mentee could give you a different story and say, oh my gosh, she sucks.
72
00:04:30,700 --> 00:04:31,980
Did you see the way she yelled at me?
73
00:04:31,980 --> 00:04:35,420
Did you see the way that she didn't prepare me to succeed?
74
00:04:35,420 --> 00:04:39,740
He may say that because to be honest, value is in the eye of the beholder.
75
00:04:39,740 --> 00:04:40,740
I was proud of him.
76
00:04:40,740 --> 00:04:42,340
He did such a great job.
77
00:04:42,340 --> 00:04:45,160
And I hope he recognizes that I'm proud of him.
78
00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:50,420
And I hope he recognizes that all the feedback I gave him was loving and to help him grow
79
00:04:50,420 --> 00:04:51,420
and expand.
80
00:04:51,420 --> 00:04:53,240
But it is possible.
81
00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:55,980
Sometimes people are looking at the world through wounded lenses.
82
00:04:55,980 --> 00:05:00,220
I know I had that issue when I was coming up as a faculty member.
83
00:05:00,220 --> 00:05:04,220
And sometimes even the best meaning mentors may not come across that well.
84
00:05:04,220 --> 00:05:10,600
So I'm saying that to say that I'm not judging myself, but I'm using this example, the story
85
00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:13,020
to talk about why mentoring matters.
86
00:05:13,020 --> 00:05:18,100
Well the first reason mentoring matters is because, wow, you've got a long way to go.
87
00:05:18,100 --> 00:05:19,480
You got a long way to go.
88
00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:23,220
The journey ahead is far and it's hard to get there.
89
00:05:23,220 --> 00:05:27,700
So I want to pause and say that this journey of academic medicine is hard.
90
00:05:27,700 --> 00:05:32,700
And in reality, there's nothing in life that's really easy, especially if it's worthwhile,
91
00:05:32,700 --> 00:05:38,180
especially if it's really full of purpose, especially if people are going to be helped.
92
00:05:38,180 --> 00:05:39,980
It's going to be a hard journey.
93
00:05:39,980 --> 00:05:42,540
No one should ever, ever take the journey by themselves.
94
00:05:42,540 --> 00:05:46,920
I mean, there are many people who make it even though they don't have the resources
95
00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:50,460
or the help that they need, but it's a hard and lonely journey.
96
00:05:50,460 --> 00:05:55,420
And to be honest, many people who don't have the support they need, they don't make it.
97
00:05:55,420 --> 00:05:57,160
Or they don't make it well.
98
00:05:57,160 --> 00:05:59,440
They don't make it in a way that's healthy.
99
00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:02,620
Some people make it across the finish line and they're made, like they're missing an
100
00:06:02,620 --> 00:06:04,300
arm and a leg.
101
00:06:04,300 --> 00:06:08,220
Their heart has turned to cold stone.
102
00:06:08,220 --> 00:06:11,280
I'm just saying the journey is hard.
103
00:06:11,280 --> 00:06:15,500
And if you're going to get far, you're going to want people to come alongside you and help
104
00:06:15,500 --> 00:06:21,180
you make it and not just make it, but help you live on the way to getting there.
105
00:06:21,180 --> 00:06:23,940
And so why does mentoring matter?
106
00:06:23,940 --> 00:06:29,240
Mentoring matters because you've got to finish this journey and at the end of it, be whole.
107
00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:31,060
At the end of it, be one.
108
00:06:31,060 --> 00:06:32,980
At the end of it, be aligned.
109
00:06:32,980 --> 00:06:38,540
At the end of it, still be recognizable as the beautiful, wonderful, enthusiastic and
110
00:06:38,540 --> 00:06:41,340
joyful you that started the journey.
111
00:06:41,340 --> 00:06:48,540
And if you look at yourself right now and instead of joy, you find pessimism and bitterness
112
00:06:48,540 --> 00:06:52,700
and anger, then I would say that something is not going well.
113
00:06:52,700 --> 00:06:54,940
And you may be like, oh no, I have a great mentor.
114
00:06:54,940 --> 00:06:57,740
I have three New England Journal of Medicine manuscripts.
115
00:06:57,740 --> 00:07:02,620
I'm saying that that's not the goal of mentoring to get you into the biggest and baddest journals.
116
00:07:02,620 --> 00:07:06,620
I mean, that's great when that happens, but the goal of mentoring is to help you grow
117
00:07:06,620 --> 00:07:12,100
in support while still maintaining your authenticity and your joy in the process.
118
00:07:12,100 --> 00:07:18,740
And if you're being broken to shreds just to create a product that you can't even recognize,
119
00:07:18,740 --> 00:07:20,460
I don't think it's worth it.
120
00:07:20,460 --> 00:07:22,980
But again, you have to be the judge of that.
121
00:07:22,980 --> 00:07:24,420
You have to be the judge of that.
122
00:07:24,420 --> 00:07:30,740
For some people, getting the nature paper matters more than being intact and whole.
123
00:07:30,740 --> 00:07:35,420
And to be honest, you may believe that to be true now, but the day is coming when you
124
00:07:35,420 --> 00:07:38,940
may not believe that to be true and where you may regret those choices.
125
00:07:38,940 --> 00:07:45,260
But that being said, the journey is hard and mentoring matters because it helps you survive.
126
00:07:45,260 --> 00:07:48,380
And not just to survive, it helps you survive.
127
00:07:48,380 --> 00:07:51,380
It leaves you better than where you started.
128
00:07:51,380 --> 00:07:55,300
It leaves you more fulfilled than when you began the journey.
129
00:07:55,300 --> 00:08:01,140
It allows you to enjoy the journey because the journey is better when more than one person
130
00:08:01,140 --> 00:08:02,500
make the journey, right?
131
00:08:02,500 --> 00:08:07,860
A lonely journey is a rough journey, a journey that's partnered so much more beautiful.
132
00:08:07,860 --> 00:08:14,700
And so mentoring matters because it's a tough, tough road and you need help along the way.
133
00:08:14,700 --> 00:08:15,700
Okay.
134
00:08:15,700 --> 00:08:21,060
The second thing, the second reason that mentoring matters is that it shortens the distance traveled.
135
00:08:21,060 --> 00:08:22,860
You know, you can make it.
136
00:08:22,860 --> 00:08:27,580
So here's the thing about especially physicians in medicine, but just the human persons in
137
00:08:27,580 --> 00:08:33,660
general, human beings in general is that we're so resilient, we will make it.
138
00:08:33,660 --> 00:08:34,660
It's like, is it desert?
139
00:08:34,660 --> 00:08:40,620
Is it desert like conditions where there's like a sandstorm and there's sand in my eyes?
140
00:08:40,620 --> 00:08:45,060
Like if you are resilient, if you are determined, you will make it.
141
00:08:45,060 --> 00:08:48,140
No question asked, but it will be a long journey.
142
00:08:48,140 --> 00:08:49,140
Yes.
143
00:08:49,140 --> 00:08:54,620
At the end, you may be able to beat your chest and say, they almost destroyed me, but I made
144
00:08:54,620 --> 00:08:55,620
it.
145
00:08:55,620 --> 00:08:56,620
Yeah.
146
00:08:56,620 --> 00:09:01,860
I know that, but the reality is if you have a mentor, you're able to get where you're
147
00:09:01,860 --> 00:09:03,780
going further faster, right?
148
00:09:03,780 --> 00:09:05,740
It's like, okay, great.
149
00:09:05,740 --> 00:09:07,100
There's a sandstorm mentor.
150
00:09:07,100 --> 00:09:09,860
Like, oh, the mentor is like, I came with a Jeep.
151
00:09:09,860 --> 00:09:10,860
I have a four wheeler.
152
00:09:10,860 --> 00:09:11,860
Let's go.
153
00:09:11,860 --> 00:09:12,860
Right.
154
00:09:12,860 --> 00:09:15,460
I mean, your mentor has more resources than you, even if they don't have as much like
155
00:09:15,460 --> 00:09:21,420
financial resources, they have more resources in terms of experience, in terms of opportunities.
156
00:09:21,420 --> 00:09:24,120
And so they will get you further faster.
157
00:09:24,120 --> 00:09:28,300
So mentoring matters because it shortens the distance traveled.
158
00:09:28,300 --> 00:09:31,340
Why do we want to shorten the distance traveled?
159
00:09:31,340 --> 00:09:34,120
Because hey, you've got further to go.
160
00:09:34,120 --> 00:09:38,620
If at the end of your career, all you have to show for your life is exactly what your
161
00:09:38,620 --> 00:09:40,060
mentor has.
162
00:09:40,060 --> 00:09:41,060
Wow.
163
00:09:41,060 --> 00:09:43,260
You haven't really benefited.
164
00:09:43,260 --> 00:09:48,440
If you've had great mentoring at the end of your mentoring experience, you should be better
165
00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:49,440
than your mentor.
166
00:09:49,440 --> 00:09:51,380
Can I say that again?
167
00:09:51,380 --> 00:09:57,380
If you have had the benefit of great mentoring at the end of your mentoring experience, you
168
00:09:57,380 --> 00:09:59,780
should be better than your mentor.
169
00:09:59,780 --> 00:10:04,740
And I say that because mentoring is supposed to enhance you as a person.
170
00:10:04,740 --> 00:10:10,900
If all that you get at the end is becoming a shadow of somebody else, you haven't really
171
00:10:10,900 --> 00:10:12,140
been mentored.
172
00:10:12,140 --> 00:10:15,680
You've kind of, I'm not even sure what to call that journey.
173
00:10:15,680 --> 00:10:17,580
I'm just not sure what to call it.
174
00:10:17,580 --> 00:10:18,580
I'm not sure.
175
00:10:18,580 --> 00:10:19,580
Like follow the shadow.
176
00:10:19,580 --> 00:10:20,580
I'm just not sure.
177
00:10:20,580 --> 00:10:28,220
But in reality, what happens is your amazingness comes together with your mentor's amazingness
178
00:10:28,220 --> 00:10:33,020
and it results in triple quadruple amazingness.
179
00:10:33,020 --> 00:10:36,580
I was going to say badassery and that's really how I feel.
180
00:10:36,580 --> 00:10:39,880
It's like, whoa, who is this person?
181
00:10:39,880 --> 00:10:43,500
Because what you've done is you've taken everything that's awesome about you and you've collected
182
00:10:43,500 --> 00:10:47,860
everything that's awesome about your mentor and you've made it into something unrecognizable
183
00:10:47,860 --> 00:10:49,220
and out of this world.
184
00:10:49,220 --> 00:10:54,940
And so your mentor should always accelerate you beyond where they are.
185
00:10:54,940 --> 00:10:57,500
Absolutely.
186
00:10:57,500 --> 00:11:02,580
Every one of your mentees, for those of you who are mentors, should absolutely be poised
187
00:11:02,580 --> 00:11:08,820
to outstrip you, outclass you at the end of the day because you're pulling into them yourself,
188
00:11:08,820 --> 00:11:09,980
but they came with themselves.
189
00:11:09,980 --> 00:11:12,860
So there's so much more.
190
00:11:12,860 --> 00:11:18,500
What happens is when mentors tear down their mentees and then pour themselves into their
191
00:11:18,500 --> 00:11:22,900
mentees, like you're first of all stripping them of everything that is them and then saying,
192
00:11:22,900 --> 00:11:25,820
well, now you can take me on because I'm amazing.
193
00:11:25,820 --> 00:11:28,300
All you've given them is you.
194
00:11:28,300 --> 00:11:31,940
And to be honest, it's not that you is not okay.
195
00:11:31,940 --> 00:11:34,520
It's just that you already happened.
196
00:11:34,520 --> 00:11:39,940
And if something amazing is going to happen, it takes you and what the other person brings
197
00:11:39,940 --> 00:11:41,680
to make it amazing.
198
00:11:41,680 --> 00:11:44,180
It's just like it's a new combination.
199
00:11:44,180 --> 00:11:47,740
It's a different chemistry.
200
00:11:47,740 --> 00:11:53,740
And so mentoring gets you further and it gets you faster.
201
00:11:53,740 --> 00:11:56,740
And if it doesn't do that, then it may not be mentoring.
202
00:11:56,740 --> 00:11:57,740
Okay.
203
00:11:57,740 --> 00:12:02,420
Number three is that it opens doors that are otherwise hard to get through.
204
00:12:02,420 --> 00:12:04,100
So here's the thing about mentors.
205
00:12:04,100 --> 00:12:06,500
Mentors tend to be further along than you are.
206
00:12:06,500 --> 00:12:07,500
Right.
207
00:12:07,500 --> 00:12:12,620
And again, I'm talking about more senior mentors rather than I am talking about like peer mentors.
208
00:12:12,620 --> 00:12:14,620
But to be honest, the same principles apply.
209
00:12:14,620 --> 00:12:15,620
Right.
210
00:12:15,620 --> 00:12:19,900
If somebody is only three feet ahead of you, connecting with them gets you three feet further
211
00:12:19,900 --> 00:12:20,900
faster.
212
00:12:20,900 --> 00:12:21,900
Right.
213
00:12:21,900 --> 00:12:26,540
If somebody is seven years ahead of you, connecting with them can get you seven years faster.
214
00:12:26,540 --> 00:12:27,540
Right.
215
00:12:27,540 --> 00:12:29,260
You're just able to get further faster.
216
00:12:29,260 --> 00:12:30,260
Right.
217
00:12:30,260 --> 00:12:34,340
You're able to get through doors that otherwise are closed because this person has just been
218
00:12:34,340 --> 00:12:35,600
more places.
219
00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:36,760
They know more people.
220
00:12:36,760 --> 00:12:38,220
They've got a couple of networks.
221
00:12:38,220 --> 00:12:39,220
They've got people.
222
00:12:39,220 --> 00:12:40,220
They know people that you don't know.
223
00:12:40,220 --> 00:12:41,220
Right.
224
00:12:41,220 --> 00:12:44,500
And so pairing with them allows you to go through the doors that they're going through.
225
00:12:44,500 --> 00:12:46,500
So it's not even really a magical process.
226
00:12:46,500 --> 00:12:49,700
It's just that they've just been passing through doors that you haven't been through because
227
00:12:49,700 --> 00:12:51,380
you just haven't gotten to that level.
228
00:12:51,380 --> 00:12:55,860
And when you partner up with this mentor, you just get to walk through the door with
229
00:12:55,860 --> 00:12:56,860
them.
230
00:12:56,860 --> 00:12:57,860
You just do.
231
00:12:57,860 --> 00:13:01,260
I mean, they're not even thinking, oh, wait a minute, let's check you at the door.
232
00:13:01,260 --> 00:13:02,260
They're just walking.
233
00:13:02,260 --> 00:13:08,260
And you by virtual walking with them, you end up walking through amazing opportunities.
234
00:13:08,260 --> 00:13:14,580
For example, I had the opportunity this year to write a paper for our manuscript for our
235
00:13:14,580 --> 00:13:21,100
our, gosh, it's our education journal that we publish as part of the animal meeting.
236
00:13:21,100 --> 00:13:23,420
At first I was like, I don't have time for this.
237
00:13:23,420 --> 00:13:24,420
Like this is not what I want to write.
238
00:13:24,420 --> 00:13:27,340
But then I was like, wait a minute, I have mentees who've been working with me in this
239
00:13:27,340 --> 00:13:28,340
area.
240
00:13:28,340 --> 00:13:31,340
What if I ask them and they write this manuscript for me?
241
00:13:31,340 --> 00:13:34,860
So this is a manuscript that as long as it's well written, it's going to be peer reviewed.
242
00:13:34,860 --> 00:13:35,860
It's going to get published.
243
00:13:35,860 --> 00:13:36,860
It's like a certain publication.
244
00:13:36,860 --> 00:13:40,220
And to be honest, I could do with or without it.
245
00:13:40,220 --> 00:13:43,380
Like at this point, I'm not like, oh, my gosh, I need that manuscript because I've got a
246
00:13:43,380 --> 00:13:45,740
lot of other manuscripts in process.
247
00:13:45,740 --> 00:13:50,860
But by virtue of working with of these mentees working with me, I'm like, hey, I'm walking
248
00:13:50,860 --> 00:13:53,700
through this door of a guaranteed publication.
249
00:13:53,700 --> 00:13:58,580
If well written, if well written and handed in on time, will you walk with me?
250
00:13:58,580 --> 00:13:59,580
And they say yes.
251
00:13:59,580 --> 00:14:01,660
And we walk through the door together.
252
00:14:01,660 --> 00:14:07,100
Honestly, these are doors they couldn't walk through, except that the opportunity comes
253
00:14:07,100 --> 00:14:09,820
to them because I'm walking through those doors.
254
00:14:09,820 --> 00:14:12,660
And so what does mentoring, what should mentoring do for you?
255
00:14:12,660 --> 00:14:16,580
It should get you through doors that otherwise you might not be able to get through.
256
00:14:16,580 --> 00:14:21,420
And so if you're with your mentor and they have opportunity after opportunity after opportunity
257
00:14:21,420 --> 00:14:26,460
and somehow you don't seem to be included in any of those opportunities, you may not
258
00:14:26,460 --> 00:14:28,460
have mentoring going on.
259
00:14:28,460 --> 00:14:34,060
You may just be kind of hanging out as like a fan in like, you know, you know, fans, they
260
00:14:34,060 --> 00:14:37,660
get so excited because they're there in the midst of the performance and maybe they get
261
00:14:37,660 --> 00:14:40,540
an autograph, but that's about it.
262
00:14:40,540 --> 00:14:42,420
Good feelings and an autograph.
263
00:14:42,420 --> 00:14:47,660
But if you are a mentee and you're actually benefiting from your mentor by virtue of hanging
264
00:14:47,660 --> 00:14:52,660
out with them, you get opportunities that ordinarily you wouldn't get by yourself.
265
00:14:52,660 --> 00:14:56,520
And that's why mentoring matters because it gets you through doors that you otherwise
266
00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:57,860
might not get through.
267
00:14:57,860 --> 00:15:00,260
OK, that's number three.
268
00:15:00,260 --> 00:15:03,860
Number four is that it connects you to new networks.
269
00:15:03,860 --> 00:15:04,980
Here's the thing.
270
00:15:04,980 --> 00:15:09,420
If you hang out with people who look like you, walk like you, talk like you, you get
271
00:15:09,420 --> 00:15:12,260
what looks like you, walks like you and talks like you.
272
00:15:12,260 --> 00:15:16,460
But the moment you connect with somebody else, then what happens is that you are able to
273
00:15:16,460 --> 00:15:19,860
take advantage of networks that they already have access to.
274
00:15:19,860 --> 00:15:24,500
And when you think about somebody who's been building a network for 20, 30 years, it's
275
00:15:24,500 --> 00:15:27,820
different from the network you've been building, but maybe you've only built for seven or
276
00:15:27,820 --> 00:15:30,100
eight, built for seven or eight years.
277
00:15:30,100 --> 00:15:31,180
Now don't get me wrong.
278
00:15:31,180 --> 00:15:34,340
Some people are super network builders so that it's like, yeah, I've only been in this
279
00:15:34,340 --> 00:15:37,740
game for three years, but look at the network I have.
280
00:15:37,740 --> 00:15:42,580
So I'm not disdaining the fact that people build networks and have a great, are able
281
00:15:42,580 --> 00:15:44,220
to do that really well.
282
00:15:44,220 --> 00:15:47,140
What I'm saying is that you get access to different networks.
283
00:15:47,140 --> 00:15:53,500
OK, and so if you are experiencing great mentoring, what you are doing, what you are, you have
284
00:15:53,500 --> 00:15:58,460
the opportunity to do is be introduced to people that you ordinarily would not be introduced
285
00:15:58,460 --> 00:15:59,460
to.
286
00:15:59,460 --> 00:16:01,540
For example, I'm at the annual meeting.
287
00:16:01,540 --> 00:16:05,820
I'm talking with one of my mentors, somebody else walks up to talk to them and they're
288
00:16:05,820 --> 00:16:07,300
like, hey, wait a minute, do you know Toyosi?
289
00:16:07,300 --> 00:16:10,340
I'm like, oh, Toyosi, meet this person, this person, meet Toyosi.
290
00:16:10,340 --> 00:16:14,100
And by virtue of the fact that that person is a part of their network, I now know them.
291
00:16:14,100 --> 00:16:16,340
OK, am I best friends with them yet?
292
00:16:16,340 --> 00:16:18,780
No, but now they know me.
293
00:16:18,780 --> 00:16:20,700
Now we're going to show up to the meeting next year and guess what?
294
00:16:20,700 --> 00:16:23,380
I don't need my mentor to be in the room to say, hey, remember me?
295
00:16:23,380 --> 00:16:24,900
I met you last year.
296
00:16:24,900 --> 00:16:27,140
And they're like, oh, yeah, I remember.
297
00:16:27,140 --> 00:16:28,420
You see what I'm saying?
298
00:16:28,420 --> 00:16:33,780
Like, just the fact that you know other people, your mentor knows other people already by
299
00:16:33,780 --> 00:16:39,300
virtue of that connection, you are able to participate with them in their networks.
300
00:16:39,300 --> 00:16:43,100
And so it opens the door to networks beyond your own.
301
00:16:43,100 --> 00:16:46,240
OK, number five is it helps you grow.
302
00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:47,240
This is so important.
303
00:16:47,240 --> 00:16:51,540
You know, I have to say that I'm going to go back to the story of my mentee presenting
304
00:16:51,540 --> 00:16:53,580
at the annual meeting this year.
305
00:16:53,580 --> 00:16:59,140
And he just did so I mean, he was just so finessed, so polished, and he was so smooth.
306
00:16:59,140 --> 00:17:02,720
Now I will tell you, it took us like two or three reviews of the slides.
307
00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:04,660
It took a lot of changes.
308
00:17:04,660 --> 00:17:08,700
It took a lot of practice for him to show up with that level of polish.
309
00:17:08,700 --> 00:17:14,380
But I have to tell you that tomorrow when he creates another presentation for another
310
00:17:14,380 --> 00:17:20,280
meeting and I'm not there, everything I've taught, he's going to be able to use to create
311
00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:22,460
an amazing presentation.
312
00:17:22,460 --> 00:17:25,420
And so his level of presenting has grown.
313
00:17:25,420 --> 00:17:30,900
It's expanded from where he started from before I mentored him in that way.
314
00:17:30,900 --> 00:17:34,540
And so, you know, maybe I've taught him all the tricks I know, and now he can move on
315
00:17:34,540 --> 00:17:36,760
to someone else who can teach him more tricks.
316
00:17:36,760 --> 00:17:40,940
But there's a growth that happens between when you start out where you're going.
317
00:17:40,940 --> 00:17:44,180
Now, here's the thing that's important.
318
00:17:44,180 --> 00:17:48,020
There are many mentoring situations where it's not like you're not growing, but sometimes
319
00:17:48,020 --> 00:17:52,000
it's like you're being torn down more than you're actually growing.
320
00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:55,860
It's like you're being pulled back more than you're actually moving forward.
321
00:17:55,860 --> 00:17:59,820
And it's important to pay attention to this because mentoring shouldn't tear you down.
322
00:17:59,820 --> 00:18:01,380
It shouldn't pull you down.
323
00:18:01,380 --> 00:18:04,660
It should leave you better than when you first started.
324
00:18:04,660 --> 00:18:08,500
And so mentoring matters because it helps you grow.
325
00:18:08,500 --> 00:18:12,440
It helps you expand as a person without breaking you.
326
00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:15,660
If you're in a situation where you're like, yeah, I'm growing and getting access to all
327
00:18:15,660 --> 00:18:18,900
these opportunities, but my I don't recognize who I am.
328
00:18:18,900 --> 00:18:21,460
I'm a shadow of the person I used to be.
329
00:18:21,460 --> 00:18:25,400
I want you to be aware that may not be a mentoring situation.
330
00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:27,900
It may be a actually I won't even say it.
331
00:18:27,900 --> 00:18:31,100
It sounds like a bad word in my head, even though it's not necessarily.
332
00:18:31,100 --> 00:18:35,480
But I'm just saying that mentoring matters because it leaves you better than when it
333
00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:36,820
first met you.
334
00:18:36,820 --> 00:18:41,700
It allows you to grow in a way that you ordinarily might not grow just by yourself.
335
00:18:41,700 --> 00:18:46,500
OK, number six, it gives you tools you didn't have before.
336
00:18:46,500 --> 00:18:49,420
So you're you're getting mentored.
337
00:18:49,420 --> 00:18:50,420
You're learning new things.
338
00:18:50,420 --> 00:18:52,500
It's like, OK, this is the way I do.
339
00:18:52,500 --> 00:18:53,660
I do slides.
340
00:18:53,660 --> 00:18:54,660
Great.
341
00:18:54,660 --> 00:18:57,760
Here you have a new set of tools that you can use.
342
00:18:57,760 --> 00:18:59,420
We're writing a paper together.
343
00:18:59,420 --> 00:19:01,460
Here's the way I write the introduction.
344
00:19:01,460 --> 00:19:06,500
Now you have a set of tools that you may not have had before or you are going to write
345
00:19:06,500 --> 00:19:08,220
a review article.
346
00:19:08,220 --> 00:19:11,780
Here's the way I write an outline before I do the review article.
347
00:19:11,780 --> 00:19:14,900
Now you have a new set of tools that you didn't have before.
348
00:19:14,900 --> 00:19:20,100
So in your mentoring experience, mentoring matters because it gives you tools that you
349
00:19:20,100 --> 00:19:21,780
never had before.
350
00:19:21,780 --> 00:19:22,780
And so you know what?
351
00:19:22,780 --> 00:19:27,300
My mentee is now going to mentor somebody else in giving a talk.
352
00:19:27,300 --> 00:19:31,700
He's got strategies to show them that maybe they ordinarily didn't have for themselves
353
00:19:31,700 --> 00:19:32,700
before.
354
00:19:32,700 --> 00:19:37,660
And so mentoring matters because it gives you tools that you may not have had before
355
00:19:37,660 --> 00:19:42,500
and not just tools that you can use for yourself over and over again, but tools that you can
356
00:19:42,500 --> 00:19:49,660
take, modify, make them yours, and then pass them on to another generation of mentees.
357
00:19:49,660 --> 00:19:52,680
And that leads me to number seven.
358
00:19:52,680 --> 00:19:57,140
Mentoring matters because it prepares you to be a great mentor.
359
00:19:57,140 --> 00:19:58,940
Why is this important?
360
00:19:58,940 --> 00:20:02,420
Because there are many people who are not in great mentoring situations.
361
00:20:02,420 --> 00:20:08,860
In fact, people are in what we call tour mentor type situations where instead of being mentored,
362
00:20:08,860 --> 00:20:13,300
they're actually being stripped of their dignity, they're being stripped of their respect, they're
363
00:20:13,300 --> 00:20:18,260
being stripped of who they are and being made to fit a mold that doesn't fit them.
364
00:20:18,260 --> 00:20:24,020
But what happens when you get great mentoring, you learn the right way to mentor.
365
00:20:24,020 --> 00:20:27,340
You're able to mentor another generation into health.
366
00:20:27,340 --> 00:20:31,620
And so unfortunately for some of us who've been abused in the course of mentoring, all
367
00:20:31,620 --> 00:20:34,140
we're able to give out is abuse, right?
368
00:20:34,140 --> 00:20:35,740
It's like, this is how I learned.
369
00:20:35,740 --> 00:20:37,380
So sucks for you.
370
00:20:37,380 --> 00:20:38,380
Suck it up.
371
00:20:38,380 --> 00:20:41,500
And for many of us, that's the way it happened.
372
00:20:41,500 --> 00:20:44,380
And we're like, well, this is the way my mentor treated me and it worked for me.
373
00:20:44,380 --> 00:20:46,500
Look at how I turned out.
374
00:20:46,500 --> 00:20:48,360
And it's not okay.
375
00:20:48,360 --> 00:20:51,780
Just because you didn't get great mentoring doesn't mean you get to dish out dirt to another
376
00:20:51,780 --> 00:20:56,060
generation and perpetrate the ugliness and move it forward.
377
00:20:56,060 --> 00:21:00,160
Please don't do that.
378
00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:05,420
Even if you did not get great mentoring, you have the opportunity to recognize what it
379
00:21:05,420 --> 00:21:10,660
means to be a great mentor, to heal from all your wounds of poor mentoring and to give
380
00:21:10,660 --> 00:21:14,060
a gift to the next generation that you didn't have.
381
00:21:14,060 --> 00:21:19,780
The gift of mentoring well is that that person now knows how to mentor in a way that's healthy
382
00:21:19,780 --> 00:21:24,100
and respectful and can pass it on to the next generation.
383
00:21:24,100 --> 00:21:29,540
The reason mentoring matters, good mentoring matters, is so that we can mentor another
384
00:21:29,540 --> 00:21:36,420
generation that then mentors another generation in health and in happiness and peace.
385
00:21:36,420 --> 00:21:42,020
There are so many people who are so successful and so broken, so successful and full of bitterness
386
00:21:42,020 --> 00:21:47,340
and poison, and they're spewing it out all over the place and calling it mentoring.
387
00:21:47,340 --> 00:21:51,480
And I'm just saying that it's time for us to break that mold.
388
00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:55,820
Even if we didn't get good mentoring, it's time for us to break the mold of poor mentoring
389
00:21:55,820 --> 00:21:57,940
and begin to do things a little bit differently.
390
00:21:57,940 --> 00:21:58,940
All right.
391
00:21:58,940 --> 00:22:03,500
I just want to summarize again the seven things I talked about, about mentoring.
392
00:22:03,500 --> 00:22:07,380
Number one, it expands your vision, at least you're better off than you were before.
393
00:22:07,380 --> 00:22:09,380
Number two, it shortens the distance traveled.
394
00:22:09,380 --> 00:22:14,820
Number three, it opens doors that are otherwise hard to get through before it connects you
395
00:22:14,820 --> 00:22:16,260
to new networks.
396
00:22:16,260 --> 00:22:17,260
It helps you grow.
397
00:22:17,260 --> 00:22:25,020
It gives you new tools you didn't have before and can now pass on to another generation.
398
00:22:25,020 --> 00:22:31,260
It prepares you to be a great mentor, to pass on the legacy of great mentoring.
399
00:22:31,260 --> 00:22:34,020
Thank you so much for listening to me today.
400
00:22:34,020 --> 00:22:35,980
Somebody else needs to hear this, please.
401
00:22:35,980 --> 00:22:40,540
Please share it with someone who's struggling with mentorship or struggling to be a mentee,
402
00:22:40,540 --> 00:22:43,460
struggling to be a mentor, because they need to hear this.
403
00:22:43,460 --> 00:22:47,900
They need to be encouraged to do the best that they can to create a new generation of
404
00:22:47,900 --> 00:22:53,780
mentors, a new generation of mentees that passes on great mentoring to the next generation.
405
00:22:53,780 --> 00:22:55,420
It's been a pleasure talking with you today.
406
00:22:55,420 --> 00:23:01,420
I look forward to seeing you again on the next episode of the Clinician Researcher Podcast.
407
00:23:01,420 --> 00:23:08,020
Have a great day.
408
00:23:08,020 --> 00:23:13,380
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Clinician Researcher Podcast, where academic
409
00:23:13,380 --> 00:23:18,660
clinicians learn the skills to build their own research program, whether or not they
410
00:23:18,660 --> 00:23:20,180
have a mentor.
411
00:23:20,180 --> 00:23:26,300
If you found the information in this episode to be helpful, don't keep it all to yourself.
412
00:23:26,300 --> 00:23:28,020
Someone else needs to hear it.
413
00:23:28,020 --> 00:23:32,080
So take a minute right now and share it.
414
00:23:32,080 --> 00:23:37,540
As you share this episode, you become part of our mission to help launch a new generation
415
00:23:37,540 --> 00:23:50,420
of clinician researchers who make transformative discoveries that change the way we do healthcare.
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,860
Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast, where academic clinicians learn the skills
2
00:00:05,860 --> 00:00:11,260
to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor.
3
00:00:11,260 --> 00:00:17,340
As clinicians, we spend a decade or more as trainees learning to take care of patients.
4
00:00:17,340 --> 00:00:22,380
When we finally start our careers, we want to build research programs, but then we find
5
00:00:22,380 --> 00:00:27,780
that our years of clinical training did not adequately prepare us to lead our research
6
00:00:27,780 --> 00:00:29,200
program.
7
00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:35,480
Through no fault of our own, we struggle to find mentors, and when we can't, we quit.
8
00:00:35,480 --> 00:00:40,580
However, clinicians hold the keys to the greatest research breakthroughs.
9
00:00:40,580 --> 00:00:46,200
For this reason, the Clinician Researcher podcast exists to give academic clinicians
10
00:00:46,200 --> 00:00:51,800
the tools to build their own research program, whether or not they have a mentor.
11
00:00:51,800 --> 00:01:01,100
Now introducing your host, Toyosi Onwuemene.
12
00:01:01,100 --> 00:01:03,180
Welcome to the Clinician Researcher podcast.
13
00:01:03,180 --> 00:01:08,080
I'm your host, Toyosi Onwuemene, and what an absolute pleasure to be talking with you today.
14
00:01:08,080 --> 00:01:12,240
Today I'm especially excited to talk about why mentoring matters.
15
00:01:12,240 --> 00:01:14,780
Why mentoring matters.
16
00:01:14,780 --> 00:01:20,220
And this topic comes to me kind of in the midst of actually at the end of our annual
17
00:01:20,220 --> 00:01:24,660
meeting where one of my mentees gave a presentation.
18
00:01:24,660 --> 00:01:29,660
And I will tell you that I was the mentor in the audience listening to his every word,
19
00:01:29,660 --> 00:01:35,940
literally hanging on his every word and so proud, so proud of the words that were coming
20
00:01:35,940 --> 00:01:38,140
out of his mouth, of the things that he said.
21
00:01:38,140 --> 00:01:41,260
I was so, so proud.
22
00:01:41,260 --> 00:01:43,660
And I mean, he did an outstanding job.
23
00:01:43,660 --> 00:01:45,620
He did a fantastic job.
24
00:01:45,620 --> 00:01:52,660
And at the end, I was so happy to be able to tell him, you did awesome.
25
00:01:52,660 --> 00:01:53,820
And why did he do awesome?
26
00:01:53,820 --> 00:01:57,820
Well, he did awesome because honestly, he's an awesome person.
27
00:01:57,820 --> 00:02:01,260
But he also did awesome because I helped him do awesome.
28
00:02:01,260 --> 00:02:03,460
I helped him do awesome.
29
00:02:03,460 --> 00:02:07,020
And I want to own my role in helping him do awesome.
30
00:02:07,020 --> 00:02:10,900
But I mean, it's my responsibility as a mentor.
31
00:02:10,900 --> 00:02:17,340
And also what a privilege it is to watch him just take the feedback and just be better.
32
00:02:17,340 --> 00:02:18,860
I mean, so awesome.
33
00:02:18,860 --> 00:02:24,420
Anyway, so I'm really writing about why mentoring matters from the perspective of a mentor,
34
00:02:24,420 --> 00:02:29,780
of a mentee, but also to some extent from the other perspective of a mentee who needs
35
00:02:29,780 --> 00:02:31,060
a mentor.
36
00:02:31,060 --> 00:02:35,300
And the reason I am sharing this story from two perspectives is because you know what?
37
00:02:35,300 --> 00:02:37,980
I didn't feel like I had that kind of mentoring.
38
00:02:37,980 --> 00:02:42,660
I didn't feel like I had mentors who really valued me or really thought I was going to
39
00:02:42,660 --> 00:02:43,660
amount to much.
40
00:02:43,660 --> 00:02:48,980
I mean, I had mentors who helped me and I want to acknowledge all the help that I received
41
00:02:48,980 --> 00:02:52,180
and I want to celebrate my mentors and thank them for it.
42
00:02:52,180 --> 00:02:55,740
But I don't know that I ever got to a point in my life where I feel like I had a mentor
43
00:02:55,740 --> 00:03:00,440
who actually believed in me, who believed I was going to succeed and who I felt like,
44
00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:03,260
you know, gave me everything.
45
00:03:03,260 --> 00:03:09,580
And again, now that I'm a mentor, I recognize how hard it is to give of anything to anybody,
46
00:03:09,580 --> 00:03:12,820
let alone so much to somebody who you don't even know.
47
00:03:12,820 --> 00:03:13,820
You don't know their mother, you don't know their father.
48
00:03:13,820 --> 00:03:17,100
You're like, I don't know who you are, where you're from.
49
00:03:17,100 --> 00:03:18,260
But it's a lot.
50
00:03:18,260 --> 00:03:19,860
It's a lot to be a mentor.
51
00:03:19,860 --> 00:03:21,300
But mentoring matters.
52
00:03:21,300 --> 00:03:25,860
And even though it's a sacrifice, even though it costs so much to be a mentor, it absolutely
53
00:03:25,860 --> 00:03:27,060
matters.
54
00:03:27,060 --> 00:03:29,080
And it's absolutely the way that we must all go.
55
00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:33,180
We must all be great mentors, even if we were never mentored well, or even if we were
56
00:03:33,180 --> 00:03:36,820
mentored to a place that we hope that we could have gotten more.
57
00:03:36,820 --> 00:03:42,000
So anything that anybody gives you, just be thankful, but also recognize that no matter
58
00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,180
how great a mentor you had, you can do better.
59
00:03:45,180 --> 00:03:49,740
So if you had a great mentor to some extent, it's kind of like your, I don't want to say
60
00:03:49,740 --> 00:03:51,940
moral obligation, like you got to do this.
61
00:03:51,940 --> 00:03:57,860
But if you had excellent mentor mentoring, then wow, what an opportunity to pay it forward
62
00:03:57,860 --> 00:04:00,420
and then expand on that mentoring, make it so much better.
63
00:04:00,420 --> 00:04:04,740
But if you didn't have great mentoring, it's not an excuse to say, well, I didn't have
64
00:04:04,740 --> 00:04:07,860
a great mentor, therefore I don't owe you anything.
65
00:04:07,860 --> 00:04:12,220
But to say, hey, if I didn't have this, how can I give it to somebody?
66
00:04:12,220 --> 00:04:13,400
Okay.
67
00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:16,020
So I want to talk about why mentoring matters.
68
00:04:16,020 --> 00:04:20,940
And I want to talk again from the perspective of the mentee looking to the mentor, but also
69
00:04:20,940 --> 00:04:26,540
looking at it from my perspective as a mentor, really at enhancing the experience of my mentee.
70
00:04:26,540 --> 00:04:27,540
Now here's the thing.
71
00:04:27,540 --> 00:04:30,700
The mentee could give you a different story and say, oh my gosh, she sucks.
72
00:04:30,700 --> 00:04:31,980
Did you see the way she yelled at me?
73
00:04:31,980 --> 00:04:35,420
Did you see the way that she didn't prepare me to succeed?
74
00:04:35,420 --> 00:04:39,740
He may say that because to be honest, value is in the eye of the beholder.
75
00:04:39,740 --> 00:04:40,740
I was proud of him.
76
00:04:40,740 --> 00:04:42,340
He did such a great job.
77
00:04:42,340 --> 00:04:45,160
And I hope he recognizes that I'm proud of him.
78
00:04:45,160 --> 00:04:50,420
And I hope he recognizes that all the feedback I gave him was loving and to help him grow
79
00:04:50,420 --> 00:04:51,420
and expand.
80
00:04:51,420 --> 00:04:53,240
But it is possible.
81
00:04:53,240 --> 00:04:55,980
Sometimes people are looking at the world through wounded lenses.
82
00:04:55,980 --> 00:05:00,220
I know I had that issue when I was coming up as a faculty member.
83
00:05:00,220 --> 00:05:04,220
And sometimes even the best meaning mentors may not come across that well.
84
00:05:04,220 --> 00:05:10,600
So I'm saying that to say that I'm not judging myself, but I'm using this example, the story
85
00:05:10,600 --> 00:05:13,020
to talk about why mentoring matters.
86
00:05:13,020 --> 00:05:18,100
Well the first reason mentoring matters is because, wow, you've got a long way to go.
87
00:05:18,100 --> 00:05:19,480
You got a long way to go.
88
00:05:19,480 --> 00:05:23,220
The journey ahead is far and it's hard to get there.
89
00:05:23,220 --> 00:05:27,700
So I want to pause and say that this journey of academic medicine is hard.
90
00:05:27,700 --> 00:05:32,700
And in reality, there's nothing in life that's really easy, especially if it's worthwhile,
91
00:05:32,700 --> 00:05:38,180
especially if it's really full of purpose, especially if people are going to be helped.
92
00:05:38,180 --> 00:05:39,980
It's going to be a hard journey.
93
00:05:39,980 --> 00:05:42,540
No one should ever, ever take the journey by themselves.
94
00:05:42,540 --> 00:05:46,920
I mean, there are many people who make it even though they don't have the resources
95
00:05:46,920 --> 00:05:50,460
or the help that they need, but it's a hard and lonely journey.
96
00:05:50,460 --> 00:05:55,420
And to be honest, many people who don't have the support they need, they don't make it.
97
00:05:55,420 --> 00:05:57,160
Or they don't make it well.
98
00:05:57,160 --> 00:05:59,440
They don't make it in a way that's healthy.
99
00:05:59,440 --> 00:06:02,620
Some people make it across the finish line and they're made, like they're missing an
100
00:06:02,620 --> 00:06:04,300
arm and a leg.
101
00:06:04,300 --> 00:06:08,220
Their heart has turned to cold stone.
102
00:06:08,220 --> 00:06:11,280
I'm just saying the journey is hard.
103
00:06:11,280 --> 00:06:15,500
And if you're going to get far, you're going to want people to come alongside you and help
104
00:06:15,500 --> 00:06:21,180
you make it and not just make it, but help you live on the way to getting there.
105
00:06:21,180 --> 00:06:23,940
And so why does mentoring matter?
106
00:06:23,940 --> 00:06:29,240
Mentoring matters because you've got to finish this journey and at the end of it, be whole.
107
00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:31,060
At the end of it, be one.
108
00:06:31,060 --> 00:06:32,980
At the end of it, be aligned.
109
00:06:32,980 --> 00:06:38,540
At the end of it, still be recognizable as the beautiful, wonderful, enthusiastic and
110
00:06:38,540 --> 00:06:41,340
joyful you that started the journey.
111
00:06:41,340 --> 00:06:48,540
And if you look at yourself right now and instead of joy, you find pessimism and bitterness
112
00:06:48,540 --> 00:06:52,700
and anger, then I would say that something is not going well.
113
00:06:52,700 --> 00:06:54,940
And you may be like, oh no, I have a great mentor.
114
00:06:54,940 --> 00:06:57,740
I have three New England Journal of Medicine manuscripts.
115
00:06:57,740 --> 00:07:02,620
I'm saying that that's not the goal of mentoring to get you into the biggest and baddest journals.
116
00:07:02,620 --> 00:07:06,620
I mean, that's great when that happens, but the goal of mentoring is to help you grow
117
00:07:06,620 --> 00:07:12,100
in support while still maintaining your authenticity and your joy in the process.
118
00:07:12,100 --> 00:07:18,740
And if you're being broken to shreds just to create a product that you can't even recognize,
119
00:07:18,740 --> 00:07:20,460
I don't think it's worth it.
120
00:07:20,460 --> 00:07:22,980
But again, you have to be the judge of that.
121
00:07:22,980 --> 00:07:24,420
You have to be the judge of that.
122
00:07:24,420 --> 00:07:30,740
For some people, getting the nature paper matters more than being intact and whole.
123
00:07:30,740 --> 00:07:35,420
And to be honest, you may believe that to be true now, but the day is coming when you
124
00:07:35,420 --> 00:07:38,940
may not believe that to be true and where you may regret those choices.
125
00:07:38,940 --> 00:07:45,260
But that being said, the journey is hard and mentoring matters because it helps you survive.
126
00:07:45,260 --> 00:07:48,380
And not just to survive, it helps you survive.
127
00:07:48,380 --> 00:07:51,380
It leaves you better than where you started.
128
00:07:51,380 --> 00:07:55,300
It leaves you more fulfilled than when you began the journey.
129
00:07:55,300 --> 00:08:01,140
It allows you to enjoy the journey because the journey is better when more than one person
130
00:08:01,140 --> 00:08:02,500
make the journey, right?
131
00:08:02,500 --> 00:08:07,860
A lonely journey is a rough journey, a journey that's partnered so much more beautiful.
132
00:08:07,860 --> 00:08:14,700
And so mentoring matters because it's a tough, tough road and you need help along the way.
133
00:08:14,700 --> 00:08:15,700
Okay.
134
00:08:15,700 --> 00:08:21,060
The second thing, the second reason that mentoring matters is that it shortens the distance traveled.
135
00:08:21,060 --> 00:08:22,860
You know, you can make it.
136
00:08:22,860 --> 00:08:27,580
So here's the thing about especially physicians in medicine, but just the human persons in
137
00:08:27,580 --> 00:08:33,660
general, human beings in general is that we're so resilient, we will make it.
138
00:08:33,660 --> 00:08:34,660
It's like, is it desert?
139
00:08:34,660 --> 00:08:40,620
Is it desert like conditions where there's like a sandstorm and there's sand in my eyes?
140
00:08:40,620 --> 00:08:45,060
Like if you are resilient, if you are determined, you will make it.
141
00:08:45,060 --> 00:08:48,140
No question asked, but it will be a long journey.
142
00:08:48,140 --> 00:08:49,140
Yes.
143
00:08:49,140 --> 00:08:54,620
At the end, you may be able to beat your chest and say, they almost destroyed me, but I made
144
00:08:54,620 --> 00:08:55,620
it.
145
00:08:55,620 --> 00:08:56,620
Yeah.
146
00:08:56,620 --> 00:09:01,860
I know that, but the reality is if you have a mentor, you're able to get where you're
147
00:09:01,860 --> 00:09:03,780
going further faster, right?
148
00:09:03,780 --> 00:09:05,740
It's like, okay, great.
149
00:09:05,740 --> 00:09:07,100
There's a sandstorm mentor.
150
00:09:07,100 --> 00:09:09,860
Like, oh, the mentor is like, I came with a Jeep.
151
00:09:09,860 --> 00:09:10,860
I have a four wheeler.
152
00:09:10,860 --> 00:09:11,860
Let's go.
153
00:09:11,860 --> 00:09:12,860
Right.
154
00:09:12,860 --> 00:09:15,460
I mean, your mentor has more resources than you, even if they don't have as much like
155
00:09:15,460 --> 00:09:21,420
financial resources, they have more resources in terms of experience, in terms of opportunities.
156
00:09:21,420 --> 00:09:24,120
And so they will get you further faster.
157
00:09:24,120 --> 00:09:28,300
So mentoring matters because it shortens the distance traveled.
158
00:09:28,300 --> 00:09:31,340
Why do we want to shorten the distance traveled?
159
00:09:31,340 --> 00:09:34,120
Because hey, you've got further to go.
160
00:09:34,120 --> 00:09:38,620
If at the end of your career, all you have to show for your life is exactly what your
161
00:09:38,620 --> 00:09:40,060
mentor has.
162
00:09:40,060 --> 00:09:41,060
Wow.
163
00:09:41,060 --> 00:09:43,260
You haven't really benefited.
164
00:09:43,260 --> 00:09:48,440
If you've had great mentoring at the end of your mentoring experience, you should be better
165
00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:49,440
than your mentor.
166
00:09:49,440 --> 00:09:51,380
Can I say that again?
167
00:09:51,380 --> 00:09:57,380
If you have had the benefit of great mentoring at the end of your mentoring experience, you
168
00:09:57,380 --> 00:09:59,780
should be better than your mentor.
169
00:09:59,780 --> 00:10:04,740
And I say that because mentoring is supposed to enhance you as a person.
170
00:10:04,740 --> 00:10:10,900
If all that you get at the end is becoming a shadow of somebody else, you haven't really
171
00:10:10,900 --> 00:10:12,140
been mentored.
172
00:10:12,140 --> 00:10:15,680
You've kind of, I'm not even sure what to call that journey.
173
00:10:15,680 --> 00:10:17,580
I'm just not sure what to call it.
174
00:10:17,580 --> 00:10:18,580
I'm not sure.
175
00:10:18,580 --> 00:10:19,580
Like follow the shadow.
176
00:10:19,580 --> 00:10:20,580
I'm just not sure.
177
00:10:20,580 --> 00:10:28,220
But in reality, what happens is your amazingness comes together with your mentor's amazingness
178
00:10:28,220 --> 00:10:33,020
and it results in triple quadruple amazingness.
179
00:10:33,020 --> 00:10:36,580
I was going to say badassery and that's really how I feel.
180
00:10:36,580 --> 00:10:39,880
It's like, whoa, who is this person?
181
00:10:39,880 --> 00:10:43,500
Because what you've done is you've taken everything that's awesome about you and you've collected
182
00:10:43,500 --> 00:10:47,860
everything that's awesome about your mentor and you've made it into something unrecognizable
183
00:10:47,860 --> 00:10:49,220
and out of this world.
184
00:10:49,220 --> 00:10:54,940
And so your mentor should always accelerate you beyond where they are.
185
00:10:54,940 --> 00:10:57,500
Absolutely.
186
00:10:57,500 --> 00:11:02,580
Every one of your mentees, for those of you who are mentors, should absolutely be poised
187
00:11:02,580 --> 00:11:08,820
to outstrip you, outclass you at the end of the day because you're pulling into them yourself,
188
00:11:08,820 --> 00:11:09,980
but they came with themselves.
189
00:11:09,980 --> 00:11:12,860
So there's so much more.
190
00:11:12,860 --> 00:11:18,500
What happens is when mentors tear down their mentees and then pour themselves into their
191
00:11:18,500 --> 00:11:22,900
mentees, like you're first of all stripping them of everything that is them and then saying,
192
00:11:22,900 --> 00:11:25,820
well, now you can take me on because I'm amazing.
193
00:11:25,820 --> 00:11:28,300
All you've given them is you.
194
00:11:28,300 --> 00:11:31,940
And to be honest, it's not that you is not okay.
195
00:11:31,940 --> 00:11:34,520
It's just that you already happened.
196
00:11:34,520 --> 00:11:39,940
And if something amazing is going to happen, it takes you and what the other person brings
197
00:11:39,940 --> 00:11:41,680
to make it amazing.
198
00:11:41,680 --> 00:11:44,180
It's just like it's a new combination.
199
00:11:44,180 --> 00:11:47,740
It's a different chemistry.
200
00:11:47,740 --> 00:11:53,740
And so mentoring gets you further and it gets you faster.
201
00:11:53,740 --> 00:11:56,740
And if it doesn't do that, then it may not be mentoring.
202
00:11:56,740 --> 00:11:57,740
Okay.
203
00:11:57,740 --> 00:12:02,420
Number three is that it opens doors that are otherwise hard to get through.
204
00:12:02,420 --> 00:12:04,100
So here's the thing about mentors.
205
00:12:04,100 --> 00:12:06,500
Mentors tend to be further along than you are.
206
00:12:06,500 --> 00:12:07,500
Right.
207
00:12:07,500 --> 00:12:12,620
And again, I'm talking about more senior mentors rather than I am talking about like peer mentors.
208
00:12:12,620 --> 00:12:14,620
But to be honest, the same principles apply.
209
00:12:14,620 --> 00:12:15,620
Right.
210
00:12:15,620 --> 00:12:19,900
If somebody is only three feet ahead of you, connecting with them gets you three feet further
211
00:12:19,900 --> 00:12:20,900
faster.
212
00:12:20,900 --> 00:12:21,900
Right.
213
00:12:21,900 --> 00:12:26,540
If somebody is seven years ahead of you, connecting with them can get you seven years faster.
214
00:12:26,540 --> 00:12:27,540
Right.
215
00:12:27,540 --> 00:12:29,260
You're just able to get further faster.
216
00:12:29,260 --> 00:12:30,260
Right.
217
00:12:30,260 --> 00:12:34,340
You're able to get through doors that otherwise are closed because this person has just been
218
00:12:34,340 --> 00:12:35,600
more places.
219
00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:36,760
They know more people.
220
00:12:36,760 --> 00:12:38,220
They've got a couple of networks.
221
00:12:38,220 --> 00:12:39,220
They've got people.
222
00:12:39,220 --> 00:12:40,220
They know people that you don't know.
223
00:12:40,220 --> 00:12:41,220
Right.
224
00:12:41,220 --> 00:12:44,500
And so pairing with them allows you to go through the doors that they're going through.
225
00:12:44,500 --> 00:12:46,500
So it's not even really a magical process.
226
00:12:46,500 --> 00:12:49,700
It's just that they've just been passing through doors that you haven't been through because
227
00:12:49,700 --> 00:12:51,380
you just haven't gotten to that level.
228
00:12:51,380 --> 00:12:55,860
And when you partner up with this mentor, you just get to walk through the door with
229
00:12:55,860 --> 00:12:56,860
them.
230
00:12:56,860 --> 00:12:57,860
You just do.
231
00:12:57,860 --> 00:13:01,260
I mean, they're not even thinking, oh, wait a minute, let's check you at the door.
232
00:13:01,260 --> 00:13:02,260
They're just walking.
233
00:13:02,260 --> 00:13:08,260
And you by virtual walking with them, you end up walking through amazing opportunities.
234
00:13:08,260 --> 00:13:14,580
For example, I had the opportunity this year to write a paper for our manuscript for our
235
00:13:14,580 --> 00:13:21,100
our, gosh, it's our education journal that we publish as part of the animal meeting.
236
00:13:21,100 --> 00:13:23,420
At first I was like, I don't have time for this.
237
00:13:23,420 --> 00:13:24,420
Like this is not what I want to write.
238
00:13:24,420 --> 00:13:27,340
But then I was like, wait a minute, I have mentees who've been working with me in this
239
00:13:27,340 --> 00:13:28,340
area.
240
00:13:28,340 --> 00:13:31,340
What if I ask them and they write this manuscript for me?
241
00:13:31,340 --> 00:13:34,860
So this is a manuscript that as long as it's well written, it's going to be peer reviewed.
242
00:13:34,860 --> 00:13:35,860
It's going to get published.
243
00:13:35,860 --> 00:13:36,860
It's like a certain publication.
244
00:13:36,860 --> 00:13:40,220
And to be honest, I could do with or without it.
245
00:13:40,220 --> 00:13:43,380
Like at this point, I'm not like, oh, my gosh, I need that manuscript because I've got a
246
00:13:43,380 --> 00:13:45,740
lot of other manuscripts in process.
247
00:13:45,740 --> 00:13:50,860
But by virtue of working with of these mentees working with me, I'm like, hey, I'm walking
248
00:13:50,860 --> 00:13:53,700
through this door of a guaranteed publication.
249
00:13:53,700 --> 00:13:58,580
If well written, if well written and handed in on time, will you walk with me?
250
00:13:58,580 --> 00:13:59,580
And they say yes.
251
00:13:59,580 --> 00:14:01,660
And we walk through the door together.
252
00:14:01,660 --> 00:14:07,100
Honestly, these are doors they couldn't walk through, except that the opportunity comes
253
00:14:07,100 --> 00:14:09,820
to them because I'm walking through those doors.
254
00:14:09,820 --> 00:14:12,660
And so what does mentoring, what should mentoring do for you?
255
00:14:12,660 --> 00:14:16,580
It should get you through doors that otherwise you might not be able to get through.
256
00:14:16,580 --> 00:14:21,420
And so if you're with your mentor and they have opportunity after opportunity after opportunity
257
00:14:21,420 --> 00:14:26,460
and somehow you don't seem to be included in any of those opportunities, you may not
258
00:14:26,460 --> 00:14:28,460
have mentoring going on.
259
00:14:28,460 --> 00:14:34,060
You may just be kind of hanging out as like a fan in like, you know, you know, fans, they
260
00:14:34,060 --> 00:14:37,660
get so excited because they're there in the midst of the performance and maybe they get
261
00:14:37,660 --> 00:14:40,540
an autograph, but that's about it.
262
00:14:40,540 --> 00:14:42,420
Good feelings and an autograph.
263
00:14:42,420 --> 00:14:47,660
But if you are a mentee and you're actually benefiting from your mentor by virtue of hanging
264
00:14:47,660 --> 00:14:52,660
out with them, you get opportunities that ordinarily you wouldn't get by yourself.
265
00:14:52,660 --> 00:14:56,520
And that's why mentoring matters because it gets you through doors that you otherwise
266
00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:57,860
might not get through.
267
00:14:57,860 --> 00:15:00,260
OK, that's number three.
268
00:15:00,260 --> 00:15:03,860
Number four is that it connects you to new networks.
269
00:15:03,860 --> 00:15:04,980
Here's the thing.
270
00:15:04,980 --> 00:15:09,420
If you hang out with people who look like you, walk like you, talk like you, you get
271
00:15:09,420 --> 00:15:12,260
what looks like you, walks like you and talks like you.
272
00:15:12,260 --> 00:15:16,460
But the moment you connect with somebody else, then what happens is that you are able to
273
00:15:16,460 --> 00:15:19,860
take advantage of networks that they already have access to.
274
00:15:19,860 --> 00:15:24,500
And when you think about somebody who's been building a network for 20, 30 years, it's
275
00:15:24,500 --> 00:15:27,820
different from the network you've been building, but maybe you've only built for seven or
276
00:15:27,820 --> 00:15:30,100
eight, built for seven or eight years.
277
00:15:30,100 --> 00:15:31,180
Now don't get me wrong.
278
00:15:31,180 --> 00:15:34,340
Some people are super network builders so that it's like, yeah, I've only been in this
279
00:15:34,340 --> 00:15:37,740
game for three years, but look at the network I have.
280
00:15:37,740 --> 00:15:42,580
So I'm not disdaining the fact that people build networks and have a great, are able
281
00:15:42,580 --> 00:15:44,220
to do that really well.
282
00:15:44,220 --> 00:15:47,140
What I'm saying is that you get access to different networks.
283
00:15:47,140 --> 00:15:53,500
OK, and so if you are experiencing great mentoring, what you are doing, what you are, you have
284
00:15:53,500 --> 00:15:58,460
the opportunity to do is be introduced to people that you ordinarily would not be introduced
285
00:15:58,460 --> 00:15:59,460
to.
286
00:15:59,460 --> 00:16:01,540
For example, I'm at the annual meeting.
287
00:16:01,540 --> 00:16:05,820
I'm talking with one of my mentors, somebody else walks up to talk to them and they're
288
00:16:05,820 --> 00:16:07,300
like, hey, wait a minute, do you know Toyosi?
289
00:16:07,300 --> 00:16:10,340
I'm like, oh, Toyosi, meet this person, this person, meet Toyosi.
290
00:16:10,340 --> 00:16:14,100
And by virtue of the fact that that person is a part of their network, I now know them.
291
00:16:14,100 --> 00:16:16,340
OK, am I best friends with them yet?
292
00:16:16,340 --> 00:16:18,780
No, but now they know me.
293
00:16:18,780 --> 00:16:20,700
Now we're going to show up to the meeting next year and guess what?
294
00:16:20,700 --> 00:16:23,380
I don't need my mentor to be in the room to say, hey, remember me?
295
00:16:23,380 --> 00:16:24,900
I met you last year.
296
00:16:24,900 --> 00:16:27,140
And they're like, oh, yeah, I remember.
297
00:16:27,140 --> 00:16:28,420
You see what I'm saying?
298
00:16:28,420 --> 00:16:33,780
Like, just the fact that you know other people, your mentor knows other people already by
299
00:16:33,780 --> 00:16:39,300
virtue of that connection, you are able to participate with them in their networks.
300
00:16:39,300 --> 00:16:43,100
And so it opens the door to networks beyond your own.
301
00:16:43,100 --> 00:16:46,240
OK, number five is it helps you grow.
302
00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:47,240
This is so important.
303
00:16:47,240 --> 00:16:51,540
You know, I have to say that I'm going to go back to the story of my mentee presenting
304
00:16:51,540 --> 00:16:53,580
at the annual meeting this year.
305
00:16:53,580 --> 00:16:59,140
And he just did so I mean, he was just so finessed, so polished, and he was so smooth.
306
00:16:59,140 --> 00:17:02,720
Now I will tell you, it took us like two or three reviews of the slides.
307
00:17:02,720 --> 00:17:04,660
It took a lot of changes.
308
00:17:04,660 --> 00:17:08,700
It took a lot of practice for him to show up with that level of polish.
309
00:17:08,700 --> 00:17:14,380
But I have to tell you that tomorrow when he creates another presentation for another
310
00:17:14,380 --> 00:17:20,280
meeting and I'm not there, everything I've taught, he's going to be able to use to create
311
00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:22,460
an amazing presentation.
312
00:17:22,460 --> 00:17:25,420
And so his level of presenting has grown.
313
00:17:25,420 --> 00:17:30,900
It's expanded from where he started from before I mentored him in that way.
314
00:17:30,900 --> 00:17:34,540
And so, you know, maybe I've taught him all the tricks I know, and now he can move on
315
00:17:34,540 --> 00:17:36,760
to someone else who can teach him more tricks.
316
00:17:36,760 --> 00:17:40,940
But there's a growth that happens between when you start out where you're going.
317
00:17:40,940 --> 00:17:44,180
Now, here's the thing that's important.
318
00:17:44,180 --> 00:17:48,020
There are many mentoring situations where it's not like you're not growing, but sometimes
319
00:17:48,020 --> 00:17:52,000
it's like you're being torn down more than you're actually growing.
320
00:17:52,000 --> 00:17:55,860
It's like you're being pulled back more than you're actually moving forward.
321
00:17:55,860 --> 00:17:59,820
And it's important to pay attention to this because mentoring shouldn't tear you down.
322
00:17:59,820 --> 00:18:01,380
It shouldn't pull you down.
323
00:18:01,380 --> 00:18:04,660
It should leave you better than when you first started.
324
00:18:04,660 --> 00:18:08,500
And so mentoring matters because it helps you grow.
325
00:18:08,500 --> 00:18:12,440
It helps you expand as a person without breaking you.
326
00:18:12,440 --> 00:18:15,660
If you're in a situation where you're like, yeah, I'm growing and getting access to all
327
00:18:15,660 --> 00:18:18,900
these opportunities, but my I don't recognize who I am.
328
00:18:18,900 --> 00:18:21,460
I'm a shadow of the person I used to be.
329
00:18:21,460 --> 00:18:25,400
I want you to be aware that may not be a mentoring situation.
330
00:18:25,400 --> 00:18:27,900
It may be a actually I won't even say it.
331
00:18:27,900 --> 00:18:31,100
It sounds like a bad word in my head, even though it's not necessarily.
332
00:18:31,100 --> 00:18:35,480
But I'm just saying that mentoring matters because it leaves you better than when it
333
00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:36,820
first met you.
334
00:18:36,820 --> 00:18:41,700
It allows you to grow in a way that you ordinarily might not grow just by yourself.
335
00:18:41,700 --> 00:18:46,500
OK, number six, it gives you tools you didn't have before.
336
00:18:46,500 --> 00:18:49,420
So you're you're getting mentored.
337
00:18:49,420 --> 00:18:50,420
You're learning new things.
338
00:18:50,420 --> 00:18:52,500
It's like, OK, this is the way I do.
339
00:18:52,500 --> 00:18:53,660
I do slides.
340
00:18:53,660 --> 00:18:54,660
Great.
341
00:18:54,660 --> 00:18:57,760
Here you have a new set of tools that you can use.
342
00:18:57,760 --> 00:18:59,420
We're writing a paper together.
343
00:18:59,420 --> 00:19:01,460
Here's the way I write the introduction.
344
00:19:01,460 --> 00:19:06,500
Now you have a set of tools that you may not have had before or you are going to write
345
00:19:06,500 --> 00:19:08,220
a review article.
346
00:19:08,220 --> 00:19:11,780
Here's the way I write an outline before I do the review article.
347
00:19:11,780 --> 00:19:14,900
Now you have a new set of tools that you didn't have before.
348
00:19:14,900 --> 00:19:20,100
So in your mentoring experience, mentoring matters because it gives you tools that you
349
00:19:20,100 --> 00:19:21,780
never had before.
350
00:19:21,780 --> 00:19:22,780
And so you know what?
351
00:19:22,780 --> 00:19:27,300
My mentee is now going to mentor somebody else in giving a talk.
352
00:19:27,300 --> 00:19:31,700
He's got strategies to show them that maybe they ordinarily didn't have for themselves
353
00:19:31,700 --> 00:19:32,700
before.
354
00:19:32,700 --> 00:19:37,660
And so mentoring matters because it gives you tools that you may not have had before
355
00:19:37,660 --> 00:19:42,500
and not just tools that you can use for yourself over and over again, but tools that you can
356
00:19:42,500 --> 00:19:49,660
take, modify, make them yours, and then pass them on to another generation of mentees.
357
00:19:49,660 --> 00:19:52,680
And that leads me to number seven.
358
00:19:52,680 --> 00:19:57,140
Mentoring matters because it prepares you to be a great mentor.
359
00:19:57,140 --> 00:19:58,940
Why is this important?
360
00:19:58,940 --> 00:20:02,420
Because there are many people who are not in great mentoring situations.
361
00:20:02,420 --> 00:20:08,860
In fact, people are in what we call tour mentor type situations where instead of being mentored,
362
00:20:08,860 --> 00:20:13,300
they're actually being stripped of their dignity, they're being stripped of their respect, they're
363
00:20:13,300 --> 00:20:18,260
being stripped of who they are and being made to fit a mold that doesn't fit them.
364
00:20:18,260 --> 00:20:24,020
But what happens when you get great mentoring, you learn the right way to mentor.
365
00:20:24,020 --> 00:20:27,340
You're able to mentor another generation into health.
366
00:20:27,340 --> 00:20:31,620
And so unfortunately for some of us who've been abused in the course of mentoring, all
367
00:20:31,620 --> 00:20:34,140
we're able to give out is abuse, right?
368
00:20:34,140 --> 00:20:35,740
It's like, this is how I learned.
369
00:20:35,740 --> 00:20:37,380
So sucks for you.
370
00:20:37,380 --> 00:20:38,380
Suck it up.
371
00:20:38,380 --> 00:20:41,500
And for many of us, that's the way it happened.
372
00:20:41,500 --> 00:20:44,380
And we're like, well, this is the way my mentor treated me and it worked for me.
373
00:20:44,380 --> 00:20:46,500
Look at how I turned out.
374
00:20:46,500 --> 00:20:48,360
And it's not okay.
375
00:20:48,360 --> 00:20:51,780
Just because you didn't get great mentoring doesn't mean you get to dish out dirt to another
376
00:20:51,780 --> 00:20:56,060
generation and perpetrate the ugliness and move it forward.
377
00:20:56,060 --> 00:21:00,160
Please don't do that.
378
00:21:00,160 --> 00:21:05,420
Even if you did not get great mentoring, you have the opportunity to recognize what it
379
00:21:05,420 --> 00:21:10,660
means to be a great mentor, to heal from all your wounds of poor mentoring and to give
380
00:21:10,660 --> 00:21:14,060
a gift to the next generation that you didn't have.
381
00:21:14,060 --> 00:21:19,780
The gift of mentoring well is that that person now knows how to mentor in a way that's healthy
382
00:21:19,780 --> 00:21:24,100
and respectful and can pass it on to the next generation.
383
00:21:24,100 --> 00:21:29,540
The reason mentoring matters, good mentoring matters, is so that we can mentor another
384
00:21:29,540 --> 00:21:36,420
generation that then mentors another generation in health and in happiness and peace.
385
00:21:36,420 --> 00:21:42,020
There are so many people who are so successful and so broken, so successful and full of bitterness
386
00:21:42,020 --> 00:21:47,340
and poison, and they're spewing it out all over the place and calling it mentoring.
387
00:21:47,340 --> 00:21:51,480
And I'm just saying that it's time for us to break that mold.
388
00:21:51,480 --> 00:21:55,820
Even if we didn't get good mentoring, it's time for us to break the mold of poor mentoring
389
00:21:55,820 --> 00:21:57,940
and begin to do things a little bit differently.
390
00:21:57,940 --> 00:21:58,940
All right.
391
00:21:58,940 --> 00:22:03,500
I just want to summarize again the seven things I talked about, about mentoring.
392
00:22:03,500 --> 00:22:07,380
Number one, it expands your vision, at least you're better off than you were before.
393
00:22:07,380 --> 00:22:09,380
Number two, it shortens the distance traveled.
394
00:22:09,380 --> 00:22:14,820
Number three, it opens doors that are otherwise hard to get through before it connects you
395
00:22:14,820 --> 00:22:16,260
to new networks.
396
00:22:16,260 --> 00:22:17,260
It helps you grow.
397
00:22:17,260 --> 00:22:25,020
It gives you new tools you didn't have before and can now pass on to another generation.
398
00:22:25,020 --> 00:22:31,260
It prepares you to be a great mentor, to pass on the legacy of great mentoring.
399
00:22:31,260 --> 00:22:34,020
Thank you so much for listening to me today.
400
00:22:34,020 --> 00:22:35,980
Somebody else needs to hear this, please.
401
00:22:35,980 --> 00:22:40,540
Please share it with someone who's struggling with mentorship or struggling to be a mentee,
402
00:22:40,540 --> 00:22:43,460
struggling to be a mentor, because they need to hear this.
403
00:22:43,460 --> 00:22:47,900
They need to be encouraged to do the best that they can to create a new generation of
404
00:22:47,900 --> 00:22:53,780
mentors, a new generation of mentees that passes on great mentoring to the next generation.
405
00:22:53,780 --> 00:22:55,420
It's been a pleasure talking with you today.
406
00:22:55,420 --> 00:23:01,420
I look forward to seeing you again on the next episode of the Clinician Researcher Podcast.
407
00:23:01,420 --> 00:23:08,020
Have a great day.
408
00:23:08,020 --> 00:23:13,380
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Clinician Researcher Podcast, where academic
409
00:23:13,380 --> 00:23:18,660
clinicians learn the skills to build their own research program, whether or not they
410
00:23:18,660 --> 00:23:20,180
have a mentor.
411
00:23:20,180 --> 00:23:26,300
If you found the information in this episode to be helpful, don't keep it all to yourself.
412
00:23:26,300 --> 00:23:28,020
Someone else needs to hear it.
413
00:23:28,020 --> 00:23:32,080
So take a minute right now and share it.
414
00:23:32,080 --> 00:23:37,540
As you share this episode, you become part of our mission to help launch a new generation
415
00:23:37,540 --> 00:23:50,420
of clinician researchers who make transformative discoveries that change the way we do healthcare.
Sign up for our weekly newsletter
Listen On
New to Clinician Researcher?
Feb. 5, 2024
Keys to Your Success - The Importance of Focus
In this episode, we explore the pivotal role of focus. In the journey to becoming a clinician scientist, we discuss the complexities of balancing clinical responsibilities, research, and administrative duties. Key Points Disc...
Jan. 5, 2024
Welcome to 2024!
In this episode, the Clinician Researcher Podcast sets off Season 2 with a focus on supporting clinicians transitioning to researchers while emphasizing authenticity and individuality. Key Points Discussed: Transitioning to a...
Sept. 4, 2023
How to negotiate your salary
Salary negotiations in academic medicine can be challenging. It is especially challenging because no one teaches you how to negotiate well. In this episode, we break down the salary negotiation process. This process highlight...
Aug. 7, 2023
How to negotiate for protected time
In this episode, we explore the art of negotiating protected time. Negotiate time to advance your research and career by doing the following things: Get clarity on what protected time will do for you. Develop a strategic plan...
Aug. 3, 2023
Why do I need protected time?
Podcast Show Notes - Clinician Researcher, Episode 3: Why do I need protected time? Welcome to another enlightening episode of the "Clinician Researcher" podcast. In this episode, we delve into the concept of "Protected Time"...
Aug. 2, 2023
Can I succeed with or without a mentor?
Podcast Show Notes - Clinician Researcher, Episode 2: Can I Succeed with or without a Mentor? Did you know that mentorship plays a crucial role in shaping the success of clinicians and researchers? According to a systematic r...
Aug. 1, 2023
Why Clinicians Should Lead Research
Welcome to the inaugural episode of the "Clinician Researcher" podcast, where we empower clinicians to become successful research leaders. In this inaugural episode, we explore why clinicians should lead research programs. We...