Self-Compassionate Professor

On this first episode of 2021, we talk about what this podcast is really about: career wellness. I draw on clips from various episodes in 2020, featuring Dr. Beth Godbee, Dr. Laura Froyen, Dr. Rebecca Shisler Marshall, Dr. Vicky Sherwood, and Dr. Megan O'Rourke and demonstrate how career wellness is really about finding and honoring yourself. Without that piece, no amount of career success will mean anything. Happy New Year! 

Whether faculty, postdoc, or grad student, Allison explains the value of seeking support from career services on your campus, describes the dartboard strategy for networking, and tells her own career transition story. We also talk about the importance of paying attention to your emotions and keeping yourself organized throughout the career transition process.  

Dr. Andre Marques-Smith explains the absolute necessity of engaging with your passion throughout life: staying focused on the things that nourish your passion, noticing when your passion starts to wane and when it does, assessing the situation and making decisions that will open up new paths of passion once again. He talks about his changing interests over the course of his life and how he has easily let go of old habits in order to embrace new and emerging interests. Dr. Marques-Smith argues that we will achieve only mediocrity if we stay in a place after our passion dissipates and that moving on is essential despite fears and sunken costs.   

Last week, in Episode 38, we heard from Dr. Jacob Kashiwagi, who discussed the components of good mentorship and leadership. In this week's episode, we hear from one of Dr. Kashiwagi's mentees, Dr. Jake Gunnoe. Dr. Gunnoe talks about how to be a good mentee, how to find a mentor, how to navigate the relationship, and he explains the many benefits of seeking out mentors. Few of us have had a mentoring relationship as deep and as enduring as the one Jake and Jacob have had, but, as Jake explains, a mentoring relationship doesn't have to look any certain way. It simply needs to be helpful and in that way, as Jake discusses, "greatness is your back pocket." Find Dr. Jake Gunnoe on LinkedIn and reach out to him via email at [email protected]. Also, check out Leadership of Arizona's YouTube Channel.  

Dr. Jacob Kashiwagi describes his model for success, including finding a mentor, listening, making mistakes, and getting out of your own head. The model he lives that led him to creating a successful course at Arizona State University as well as building a successful nonprofit business came from his father's academic research--research he applied practically to managing his own home and children. Growing up, Jacob watched the effects of living the model on his family and now, in his organization, teaches these principles to others. Email him at [email protected] or find him on LinkedIn. Also, check out his books, "No Influence Mentoring" and "In Search of Truth" as well as Leadership Society of Arizona's YouTube Channel. 

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Dr. Vicky Sherwood describes how she started down an academic career path without ever making strategic decisions about where she wanted to go. Having earned her PhD and completed a post-doc, Vicky says she was "hell-bent on becoming a professor," yet over the course of her academic career, she carried an ongoing and nagging sense that she should explore other career possibilities. Eventually she left her job as a tenured professor and now speaks of her present career in freelance medical writing as ever-changing and always in process. Dr. Vicky Sherwood offers great advice to others who want to leave. Check out her blog called, "Biomed Badass" and find her on LinkedIn.

Drawing on the work of Dr. Adriana Cavarero and other ethics philosophers, Eric argues that humans exist to support one another. He discusses the necessity of human connection and how we, as "unique unrepeatable" humans, are called into being by the unique unrepeatable conversations we have with others in unique unrepeatable moments. Within the context of finding post-ac work, we discuss the importance of connecting to others through informational interviews where in an interview, the interviewee hears their own story reflected through the interviewer and vice-versa. And when the interaction is treated as unique and unrepeatable, we open the door for greater authenticity and thus connection. And in this way, Eric explains, we find our own anchor and our own value.