🎙️ Podcast Link 🎙️

Having good mentors in an academic career is like having a superpower!

In this video, I unpack the many benefits of having mentors, how the mentoring relationship can work, and tips for how to go about finding good mentors and avoid bad ones.

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Complete topic list and timestamps:

📌 (0:00) Introduction to Mentoring
📌 (0:20) My Experience with Being Mentored
📌 (0:41) Why is Having Mentors Awesome?
📌 (1:06) Mentors See Things You Don’t
📌 (1:21) Mentors Bring Diverse Experiences
📌 (1:41) Mentors Provide Typical Support
📌 (1:57) Mentors Are a Critical Part of Many Careers
📌 (2:13) Constructive Criticism in a Safe Environment
📌 (2:35) Mentors Enable Growth
📌 (3:20) Supervisors Aren’t Always Mentors
📌 (4:05) What Makes a Good Mentor?
📌 (4:18) My Way Isn’t Necessarily Best for You
📌 (4:37) Tailored Advice for You
📌 (4:57) Update Their Advice, Constantly
📌 (5:22) Give Good Advice But Let You Screw Up
📌 (5:57) You Still Need to Critically Listen
📌 (6:22) Mentors Don’t Have to be Friends
📌 (6:37) Mentors Don’t Have to be Perfect Matches
📌 (7:11) Make up Your Mentors in the Aggregate
📌 (7:39) Mentors for Specific Areas of Your Career
📌 (8:26) Interacting with Your Mentors
📌 (9:24) Finding Mentors
📌 (9:52) Use Your Existing Network
📌 (10:09) Be Flexible When Approaching Mentors
📌 (10:35) Can Be Done Online!
📌 (11:04) Good Mentors Do Due Diligence
📌 (11:18) Your Mentor Team Should Evolve Over Time
📌 (11:46) Summary: Mentors are like a Superpower

Full Video Notes

• Why mentors? Advisors, confidantes, disaster averters, constructive criticism in a trusted environment. See things you don’t. Diverse opinions. Can, where appropriate, write support letters, award nominations etc…
• Good Mentors Are Like a Superpower: Successfully careers are made by having good mentors
• Confronting, constructive criticism: give confronting, constructive criticism in a safe and trusting environment – the key enabler of growth.
• Mentors and supervisors: aren’t the same thing, but there can be overlap
  • E.g. leaving your job discussion
  • Bad situation
• Self-aware and introspective: Key properties of good mentors: self-aware and introspective
  • Avoid “I did it this way, and therefore it’s the way to do it”
  • Aware of the role that random variation and good / bad timing played in their career
  • Are very aware that what worked even a few years ago may be totally inappropriate now
• Give good advice, frequently, but will let you make “mistakes of passion”
• Are occasionally wrong – your challenge is to still filter their advice.
• Not necessarily your friends (but can become friends)
• Not perfectly aligned in all regards, don’t need to see eye to eye on everything
• Are made up in aggregate, especially as you become more senior
  • Technical
  • Career
  • Work-life nexus
  • Entrepreneurial
• Interaction with Mentors: Both Regular and Irregular Interaction
  • Monthly catchups
  • On demand, sporadic advising. Professor advice example.
  • A once off hour of quality, targeted advice can be incredibly valuable and career changing.
• Finding mentors
  • Regularly “interacting” with other people, including new people. Wide variety of forms: not just over drinks, virtual meetings over a cup of tea etc…
  • Asking for mentoring: regular thing, or a once-off meeting?

Good mentors do due diligence: a good mentor will make sure they are a good fit for you, and is confidence inspiring for you as a potential mentee.