The Importance of Chance Encounters

Isaac Newton once said, “I stood on the shoulders of giants,” and not, milled on the edge of the British 2£ coin are the words, “standing on the shoulders of giants.” Each generation of clinicians, educators, and researchers builds on the work of previous generations. Much has been written about the importance of mentoring to success in academic medicine. Mentors provide knowledge, skills, and connections. They are a living link to the past. Ideally, mentoring connections grow into lifetime reciprocal relationships as one transitions from mentee to colleague. In college basketball, one can see the lineage of mentorship in “mentorship trees.” For example, Larry Brown mentored John Calipari, Bill Self, Gregg Popovich, and Mark Turgeon, among others. Larry Brown won the NCAA national title and his mentees have won multiple NCAA and NBA titles. One seems similar lineages in SGIM. I am part of the Kurt Kroenke tree. Steve Asch is part of the Lisa Rubenstein tree. In turn, we mentor others who will invariably also serve as mentors. Over time, as these trees, they become intertwined, because most of us have more than one mentor during our careers as do our mentees. For example, I have also benefited from Lisa Rubenstein's advice. Mentoring is a skill that is passed down from generation to generation; one can see the forks and branches as these gifts from the heart grow and spread. The perspective of age allows one to recognize and feel the impact of mentors long since gone, either from retirement or from death. Glaser award recipients invariably speak rapturously of their own mentors. Mentorship is not just an important factor in career success, it is a human bond that deepens over time. The fondness one develops for one’s own mentor transcends the benefits one receives.

While there’s a great deal of attention given to mentoring’s impact on academic success, another important and often underappreciated aspect of academic success is the “chance encounter.” In Japan, the term “go-en” refers to random encounters that result in long and meaningful relationships. Because the Japanese 5-yen coin is also called “go-en,” some Japanese hang them on origami for good luck and it’s the coin of choice for offerings at temples. To a very large degree, we are all shaped by chance encounters, many of which profoundly changed our life. I met my wife through a chance encounter. I became part of Kurt Kroenke’s lineage because I had accepted a military scholarship to pay for medical school, happened to choose Walter Reed for residency and then happened to have Kurt as an attending when I was on the medicine wards. Some of my longest lasting and most fruitful relationships originated from a chance encounter. SGIM provides wonderful opportunities to experience and foster chance encounters, random meetings that can lead to a lifetime of collaboration and friendship. To make a difference, chance encounters require a combination of luck, skill, and initiative. Recognizing and following up on such opportunities is key. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to know which opportunities will blossom and yield a bountiful harvest and which will shrivel on the vine. Given how busy we all are, we have to be selective about which opportunities to follow; the risk is that it’s unclear which ones are the right ones. No matter what path one follows, there is a strong element of skill, effort and luck to ultimate success. While one cannot know whether a missed opportunity could have changed one’s life, one can passionately and tirelessly pursue those you have chosen. On the telling, successful clinicians, educators, and researchers’ life stories sound like a direct, linear path. However, the unexpected turn often has the most profound impact. Time after time, the esteemed expert will say that they had no intention of working on their core area starting out. An opportunity presents itself, innate curiosity leads to the first step, then hard work and inspiration pushes them down the path to ultimate successes. We are all shaped by our environment, those we work with, those who mentor us, and those we mentor. We should all pause and give thanks to those who have helped us on this journey. As we travel down our life path, being open to chance encounters can lead to rich and fulfilling experiences. “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”

Declarations

Conflict of interest

The author has no conflict of interest with this article.

Disclaimer

The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and are not meant to be construed, in any way, to reflect those of the US Government or the Department of Veterans Affairs.