On December 5, Dr. Ruth Gotian spoke to Syms honors students in an engaging fireside chat about her new book, The Success Factor, with Dr. Sharon Poczter, chair of the strategy and entrepreneurship department and associate professor at the Sy Syms School of Business, as well as the founder of  ( Women's Initiative for Leadership and Learning). An expert in mentoring and leadership development, Dr. Gotian is the chief learning officer at Weill Cornell Medicine as well as an associate professor of education in anesthesiology.

Dr. Gotian gave the students helpful advice to take with them in their future careers in the business world. For example, she encouraged the importance of networking and broadening one’s knowledge, telling the students to “cultivate genuine professional relationships,” as well as to learn something outside one’s field. Other recommendations she gave the students is to build a team of mentors, as that will lead to people believing in them which will, in turn, open doors in the future – however, she stressed to the students they also look outward, encouraging them to not only think about what they’re taking from people, but also, how they can help others. “With mentoring,” said Dr. Gotian, “it’s not only about taking, but also giving,” and “when you give more than you take, people are going to want to help you.”

“Dr. Gotian’s interactive discussion on her book The Success Factor encouraged Syms Honors students to challenge their own concepts of success – including views of mentoring, networking, and going beyond the familiar to meet people or take classes in a topic that is outside your field,” said Emily Kaplan, senior academic advisor and honors program advisor at Syms. “Though it may require a few extra classes, her advice to be interdisciplinary rings true for many Syms students who are increasingly interested in adding a liberal arts minor like psychology, economics, or even English, to their business majors.” To those who missed Dr. Gotian’s presentation, Kaplan recommends they read her new book, The Success Factor, as it relates to all career fields and encourages students to view mentoring as a reciprocal relationship and to seek overlapping relationships in networking.  “Dr. Gotian made a very interesting point in her talk when she said that we’re all a Venn diagram, yet went on to explain that we just haven’t found out how we overlap yet.”

You can purchase Dr. Gotian’s book The Success Factor at 

Visit yu.edu/syms/honors to learn more about the Sy Syms Business Honors and Entrepreneurial Leadership program.