Good supervisors can take you to incredible heights. They help you learn to fly, providing the wind beneath you, and providing a net for when you fall. A shoulder is offered at just the right times, and assurance is given regarding your abilities. Constructive criticism and reality checks are also important along the way, so you have an honest and clear view of your work and, in general, reality. A great supervisor helps prevent those falls but knows how to be unobtrusive. You think you are doing it all on your own and can feel that sense of success and accomplishment that is especially important. Still, you also know someone has your back, should you happen to falter.

—Nancy L. White-Gibson