My mentoring philosophy is that students and postdocs are best considered and treated as colleagues, as most scientific learning and development (at all stages) occurs through collegial discussion. Consistent with this perspective, postdocs are able to take the scientific approaches and questions they develop with them as they begin independent research careers. In addition, as a mentor, it is also my role to challenge and support students and postdocs. I think too often we adopt a laissez-faire training attitude. Students and postdocs can and do benefit from mentorship and advice, as does any scientist. This includes observing and identifying areas that can be improved, highlighting strengths to build on, and encouraging and pushing them to better and better define and describe their ideas, perspectives, and results. Graduate school and the postdoc are training periods, and students and postdocs are not technicians who carry out a project. Rather, they are individuals developing toward independence. Given this, I remind them that they have full control over their project from development to directions to when and how to write it up. This approach empowers students and postdocs to take control and ownership of their project while simultaneously opening two-way communication that helps them to be more receptive to frank discussions, advice, and critical feedback. I strongly believe that the greatest benefit comes to my lab from this approach, as postdocs are empowered to develop their own ideas that go beyond what I have developed, and the greatest good comes to science and society, as postdocs trained in this environment are empowered and prepared for new independent challenges.
