The Art of Mentorship with Dr. Suzanne Koven
Episode Overview
Mentorship is essential for career growth and personal development. Effective mentors provide empathy and maintain firm boundaries. Mentorship can be especially valuable for those pursuing unconventional careers. Women, people of colour, and LGBTQ+ individuals face unique challenges in finding mentors. A good mentor often sees potential in you that you may not see in yourself.
A mentor is someone who has more imagination about you than you have about yourself at any given time
Mentorship is a crucial part of any physician's journey, and in this episode of Quick Takes, Dr. David Gratzer sits down with Dr. Suzanne Koven to explore what makes a great mentor. Dr. Koven, an internist and author of the New England Journal of Medicine article “What is a Mentor?”, shares her unique career path and how mentorship played a pivotal role in her professional development.
She recounts a transformative conversation with her division chief that set her on a path to combine medicine with her passion for literature and writing. This episode dives into the complexities of mentorship, questioning whether mentors sometimes project their own needs onto mentees and discussing the importance of empathy and boundaries in these relationships. Dr. Koven also touches on the challenges faced by women, people of colour, and LGBTQ+ individuals in finding effective mentorship.
If you're a physician at any stage of your career, this episode offers valuable insights into finding and becoming a good mentor. Tune in for a heartfelt and enlightening discussion that could change how you view mentorship forever.