© 2004 American Thoracic Society
MentoringSeven Roles and Some SpecificsDivision of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Loyola University of Chicago Stritch School of Medicine and Hines Veterans Affairs Hospital, Hines, Illinois Correspondence and requests for reprints should be addressed to Martin J. Tobin, M.D., Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Hines Veterans Affairs Hospital, Route 111N Hines, IL 60141. E-mail: mtobin2{at}lumc.edu In Homer's legend, when Ulysses, the king of Ithaca, went away to make war on the Trojans, he left his infant son, Telemachus, in the hands of Mentor (1). Ulysses was gone for twenty years, and Mentor guided Telemachus in practical skills, such as archery and wrestling, and also provided advice on moral matters. Giving advice, however, is naive and presumptuous (2). Naive, because experience cannot be transmitted; instead, each generation has to acquire it for itself. Presumptuous, because no one has a monopoly on wisdom; and those imagining themselves well endowed are the least wise (3). Books containing advice for young professionals come in two forms: compendia of tedious pieties, and amoral manuals of dodges and shady practices for getting on in the world (4). An attempt to provide a noncynical description of the good mentor inevitably falls into the former category and exposes an author to accusations of moralizing oversimplification. Yet fear of being labeled a self-righteous moralizer is insufficient defense for shying away from the challenge. A mentor can be defined as an older academician who takes a special interest in a younger person—a fellow or a junior member of faculty (1). The older person is called the mentor, but there is no good term for the younger person (5). The lack of a self-evident term to describe the object of the mentor's interest bespeaks of much confusion on the subject. I focus solely on the mentoring of a fellow who wants to become a physician-researcher. I make liberal use of quotations, not simply for calling on authority to buttress my case but for the illumination they provide. SEVEN ROLES The physician-researcher as mentor has at least seven roles to fill: teacher, sponsor, advisor, agent, role model, coach, and confidante (1, 6, 7). The mentor needs to customize each role to match the characteristics of the fellow. The following description is an ideal after which mentors strive. It is also an ideal that perhaps no mentor can fully attain.
Teacher
Sponsor
Advisor Mentoring should not be confused with being a faculty advisor (7, 13). With the latter, the exchange is relatively formal, largely unidirectional, with little if any personal bonding. The exchange may occur only once, whereas mentoring involves years of repeated back and forth, eyeball to eyeball. A student may not view the faculty advisor as a role model, whereas a mentor is always seen as a role model.
Agent
Role Model The fellow observes the mentor's professional priorities. The time devoted to helping colleagues, such as volunteer work in reviewing manuscripts that goes uncredited by promotion committees (16). The mentor's intellectual and scholarship style: it must be unmistakable that he or she enjoys learning. The approach to thoroughness and truth telling. The mentor's ability to make work appear more fun than fun, and make drudgery appear worthwhile. Success in research can lead to arrogance, although Claude Bernard believed true scientific prowess leads to a proportional decrease in pride (17). The fellow sees how the mentor interacts with peers: the exercise of restraint, and the instinct for maneuvering between behavior that might be uncomfortably allowed and behavior that is impermissible. The fellow sees the moral element in the mentor's identity: how the mentor defines what lines will not be crossed, and why (18). The bulk of the fellow-mentor interaction is in the research setting, but the mentor's behavior as a clinician—irrespective of whether his or her research is basic or patient oriented—will determine how well the mentor transmits the values of academic medicine. It must be crystal clear that the patient is always first priority. The core values articulated by the mentor must be evident in actions: he or she must walk the talk. When a mentor fails to practice what is being preached, the hypocrisy mutes the effectiveness of the advice (19). Role models and mentors are often confused (5). Most people who serve as role models do not act as mentors. Michael Jordan is a role model for thousands. If he is to become a mentor, it will only be for a handful of people. Likewise, William Osler was a role model for thousands of physicians, but mentored only a few. Many role models are like bright shining stars: as you get closer, they seem too hot to touch (5). Most physician trainees never have a true mentor—there are not enough to go around (5, 6, 13). They have role models and faculty advisors. Having a real mentor will always be a privilege of only a few.
Coach Motivating is the fulcrum around which coaching revolves. The mentor conveys the sense of awe about the workings of the body: the excitement in helping to unravel its complexity. He or she imbues the fellow with the power of science, the best hope for achieving progress (20). Science doesn't prevent any of us from making mistakes. But through the criticism of colleagues, errors are gradually corrected and we approach truth. The mentor communicates the thrill of discovery—no drug is more addictive (21). The mentor relates to the fellow the comfort derived from knowing that the research of today is connected to a much greater process: contributing to the increase in scientific knowledge and improved care of patients—work of everlasting value. This thought helps one realize how trivial are the slings and arrows of everyday life. But comfort of mind must not spill over into complacency. Jacques Monod, one of the founders of molecular biology, warned, "Personal self-satisfaction is the death of the scientist. Collective self-satisfaction is the death of research. It is restlessness, anxiety, dissatisfaction, agony of mind that nourish science" (22). Proper balancing of anxiety and comfort of mind achieves equanimity. The most creative individuals are driven by curiosity, getting their reward directly from their work (causing colleagues to think them odd) (18). The best people in an organization want to work for reasons beyond salary or title, as if volunteers (23). The mentor relates the sense of fulfillment from working in public service (adding that thanks is rarely vocalized, and is communicated least when the responsibility is greatest). Addressing young people, Albert Schweitzer said, "I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who will have sought and found how to serve." There is no smaller package than an individual wrapped up in him or herself. The mentor raises the bar and sets high standards. The fellow is encouraged to achieve full potential: to reach for, and achieve, more than he or she thought possible (24). People are not motivated by small challenges. "Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men's blood," mused Daniel Burnham, the Chicago architect. The mentor helps the fellow to take risks, to move outside a zone of comfort. Expectations are lofty, yet realistic (7). The idea is to distend, but not perforate.
Confidante For the fellow's development, the mentor's most critical function is to help the fellow live out a dream (1, 6). A young person's dream is a personal myth, an imagined drama in which he or she is the central character—a role widely portrayed in literature. The mentor helps the fellow realize this dream through affirmation and by helping the fellow emerge in a new world. Mentoring involves an elemental form of the parental impulse, yet is quite different (6). Unlike a parent, the mentor must also be part peer. Excessive paternalism in a mentor will interfere with the primary function as a transitional figure. The mentor's task is to liberate the fellow, and not be overly protective. An actual parent can provide some of the functions of a mentor. But he or she cannot be the primary mentor figure because a parent is too closely connected to the offspring's pre-adult development (in both their minds) (6). Objectivity must be maintained: the relationship must not be seen as favoritism. The mentor not only conveys compliments, but also points out weaknesses (6, 7). When criticizing, the mentor focuses on behavior, not the person. Specificity is especially important: not much can be learned from vague criticism (or vague praise) (25). A hundred-year-old letter from William Osler, mentor to Harvey Cushing, can be seen in the online supplement (1). Osler points out that specific aspects of Cushing's behavior will be fatal to his success. Osler specifies why this behavior is a problem, and ends by saying he knows that Cushing will not mind the criticism because he understands that Osler has his interest at heart. There is no fellow that does not need to have aspects of behavior criticized. But the task requires considerable tact: inept criticism surpasses mistrust, personality struggles, pay disputes, and power struggles as a source of conflict on the job (25). By holding up a mirror, the mentor enables the fellow to see how his or her character is developing (5). The fellow has feelings of respect, admiration, and appreciation for the mentor, but also feelings of inferiority, intimidation, envy, and resentment (6). The fellow oscillates between beliefs of being an inept novice, fraudulent imposter, and a rising star that will outshine the mentor. Starting out in a subservient position, the fellow matures to become an equal over time and the relationship evolves into a meaningful friendship. But the relationship can also dissolve into bitterness (6). This may occur because the mentor is bad. Or because of arrogant ingratitude on the part of the fellow. Tacitus grumbled that man is more willing to repay an injury than repay a benefit, because gratitude is a burden whereas revenge is a pleasure. AND SOME SPECIFICS
Handling Failure
Steps to Success The second requirement is focus, the principle most often violated. Focus needs mental discipline, which is unpopular. Without focus, the fellow ends up with numerous unfinished projects. Time management is third. Time is the most scarce resource in academic life. Yet it's treated as having no value. Time is inelastic. "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion," says Parkinson's Law (17). Academicians who complain the most about being extremely busy are often the lowest achievers. The mentor teaches the fellow to document for him or herself where the time goes, to spot time wasters and be ruthless in eliminating them. And the fellow learns that wasting time that leads to innovation is good, and dumping bad work is efficient. The fourth requirement for success is learning how to handle the natural desire for credit (29). Originality, and its corollary priority, are major driving forces in science—aggravated by the tendency for discoveries to be made simultaneously in more than one laboratory. Attaining priority requires ambition, a word with many meanings and wide variation in moral implications (30). Ambition is healthy when it connotes persistence, resolution, and discipline. But vaulting ambition that includes corner cutting and self-promotion is a disfigurement. The best way to get research done, and succeed in academia, is not to mind who gets credit for it (29). Lots of praise early in a career—even when deserved—can make it more difficult to cope with subsequent setbacks (29). This thought is communicated in the saying, "I have been told of so many coming men. But where do they all go"? And in, "Whom the gods wish to destroy they first call promising."
Picking a Mentor A bad mentor sounds like a contradiction in terms, but some fellows get stuck with a faculty supervisor who lacks mentoring skills (6). The bad mentor is selfish with time. (Time given by a good mentor is immeasurable—and the part least recognized by people who are not mentors.) A bad mentor wants all the glory—it's not enough to see the fellow shine—and may even envy the attention the fellow attracts. Instead of nurturing academic development, the mentor exploits the fellow as a technician. A mentor may also act like Professor Higgins in My Fair Lady and try to make the fellow into an image of his or her own choosing, rather than fostering individuality and independence. An overprotective mentor, though meaning well, is also bad for the fellow's development.
Mentoring at a Distance
Not Pure Altruism CONCLUSION In guiding Telemachus, Mentor was assisted by Athena, the Greek goddess who embodied good counsel, prudent restraint, and practical insight (1). Mentors in academic medicine are mere mortals, and do not get help from Greek goddesses. The virtues I list for the ideal mentor are intimidating. A wise reader may wonder whether through writing this essay, I am succumbing to the counsel of my fellow Irishman, Oscar Wilde: "I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself." FOOTNOTES Supported by a Merit Review grant from the Veterans Affairs Research Service This article has an online supplement, which is accessible from this issue's table of contents online at www.atsjournals.org. Conflict of Interest Statement: M.J.T. is editor of AJRCCM. He receives a fixed stipend from the American Thoracic Society. He does not receive financial support for research from pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or medical device companies. He does not serve as a consultant to or on the advisory board of any company. He receives royalties for two books on critical care published by McGraw Hill, Inc. REFERENCES
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