A: Sometimes the mentor-mentee relationship is not working out, and it creates a problem for the mentee. I think it's always helpful to recognize the problem and recognize it's not necessarily you. Sometimes, it's a problem of fit. Often, as a mentee, you can do more to move to another mentor than you think. The mentors, particularly the people who are successful, are very busy people, and although they like to be appreciated, they're not really going to be wounded if you say, "I'm really interested in what Dr. So-and-so is doing. Is it OK with you if I meet with her?" Most times, it's best to be very upfront and either develop co-mentors, or maybe ease out of the current mentor and ease on to somebody else. There's a lot of strategies you can use.

Sometimes, it's more difficult because your mentor may be a prominent person in the university. Some mentors have more ego than others — that does happen — and might not be quite as happy about it. There's no formula for dealing with that. The best formula really is to talk with other people in your setting about the problem. Don't sit alone with the problem, but talk with other people and figure out how to deal with the politics of it.

Having said that, I think most of the time that I've seen these situations, you may be more worried than you need to be. You can deal with it fairly straightforwardly, either by picking up a co-mentor or just trying somebody else. That's fine. Even though you might be a little embarrassed, it's really more in your own head than in reality.