A survey of 2600 Ph.D. students, postdocs, and other researchers in 65 countries found that top three complaints were that supervisors: 1) used dismissive or disrespectful communication, 2) provided little or no feedback on performance, and 3) ignored team members’ personal lives and well-being The main thing they wanted was empathy: "If a supervisor is empathetic, this supervisor will understand personal situations of the early-career researchers in their group. They will understand that they have to be supportive, not treat people like production units of papers, but instead like colleagues who are at a different stage of their career. This shouldn’t be shocking. But it seems like sometimes we need to remind people that they need to be empathetic towards those working in their groups." science.org/content/article/… Unfortunately, most academic units don't reward good mentorship, select for good mentorship during hiring, or offer mentorship training. This means that mentorship ability varies wildly, even within a program--from world class mentors to people who endlessly burn through students. This is why there needs to be more training and a higher value placed on mentorship. I used to write a career advice and mentorship column to try and communicate these lessons. Far more needs to be done and it should be structural to ensure it sticks. But fostering empathy is a critical place to begin.