Take Charge of Your Professional Network of Colleagues to Succeed in Academic Medicine

Instead of relying on a single, dyadic mentor for career advice, we suggest creating and intentionally cultivating a professional network of colleagues (PNC) to guide your academic career. There are four archetypes to help clinician educators succeed in academic medicine: a traditional mentor, a sponsor, a coach, and a connector. 1 However, these roles are not discrete, and overlap occurs. For example, some mentors are great sponsors. In fact, a clinician educator's PNC is akin to a board of directors in the business world. A board of directors determines the direction and strategic plan of a company, 2 while a PNC helps a clinician educator strategically navigate academia and provides career guidance.