It takes a village of mentors

Abstract

Excerpt:

Reflecting on an extremely rewarding career, I am struck by how much it depended on a series of mentors – and of course on some lucky breaks. In this chapter, I first provide some personal history and then consider lessons I have learned along the way.

Some Lessons Learned: 

A broad lesson from my career, beyond just valuing adventure, was that setbacks also are opportunities.

Scholarly success does not come from having brilliant ideas. Rather, it comes from being able to explain simply the ideas one has developed after extended effort.

Take your work seriously, but remember that life goes better if you don’t always take yourself too seriously.