Family, friend, acquaintance, classmate, teacher, colleague, mentor, preceptor, manager. There are many names and titles to the relationships that we forge throughout our lifetime. Some are intuitive from childhood but others are learned and created in the path to professionalism.
Most of these titles are well defined. Being a mentor is often more elusive and its value can often be lost in the midst of being a preceptor, teacher, or being a manager to another. As I sit and encourage others to become a mentor I cannot help but reflect on those that have been a mentor to me.
The mentors in my career path were created long before I entered pharmacy school. I see mentors as those that were heavily involved in influencing my choice to go into pharmacy school, my involvement during pharmacy school, or those that helped identify my passion for oncology and clinical pharmacy practice. There are also mentors that did more than help me get into my current role but also ensured that I developed skills in leadership, communication, precepting, and mentoring myself.
All of these mentor-mentee relationships started with a conversation. My mentors varied from family members to teachers and preceptors. I had questions. They offered guidance. I was naive. They offered experience. I was in want of networking. They offered connections. Mentors did not necessarily impart on me clinical knowledge or judge my abilities. Mentors saw me and my potential and were not stacking me up to others. Mentor relationships also varied from short-term to those that I still maintain contact with today. In the end, I leave you with this:
We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
-Winston Churchill