Choosing your Mentor: A Letter to Creative Minds

Abstract

Choosing the right mentor is one of the most important decisions in the life of any creative mind. This decision often paves the way to several aspects of an individual professional career and intellectual development. However, the choice is often made unawares and involuntarily, also because it is taken by individuals in the initial stages of their profession and with still limited information. The fact that it is often dictated by available opportunities (e.g. in which academy, school, or university a student is accepted, or which grants he or she manages to obtain) does not help. This paper invites young people to pause and to think about mentorship. It suggests assessing actual and potential mentors against a few basic questions. Perhaps also senior intellectuals, artists, and scholars will find it instructive to consider if the mentorship they provide is what their students and junior colleagues actually need.