"Q: Who was or still is your mentor?
The late editor of Nature, John Maddox, chose me straight out of graduate school to be a staff writer. This was like being picked for Arsenal after having a kick-around in the back yard. He taught me all I know about writing. He’d give you a task that was slightly too difficult, and throw you at it. I had no portfolio, no reporting experience, he just liked the look of me. Talk about a lucky break! I hope I’ve been worthy of his mentorship.'"
https://www.ft.com/content/87b79600-d8d7-4fb8-839b-4c22a91d03f5
@cyrilpedia Interesting. I remember a friend from Nature (years ago) saying that the culture there was to always have people slightly outside their comfort zone. I asked an HR person (at a different organization) about this strategy, and she said it was a well known (male) macho strategy that ultimately produced staff disharmony and didn't actually make people perform better.
@richardsever Absolutely - you need to pay attention to the people you are mentoring that's the, hum, "mentoring" part of mentoring. One size fits all is a terrible educational strategy at any level.