{"id":37059,"date":"2016-07-15T15:31:01","date_gmt":"2016-07-15T14:31:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?p=37059"},"modified":"2016-07-15T15:32:05","modified_gmt":"2016-07-15T14:32:05","slug":"fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2016\/07\/15\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\/","title":{"rendered":"Fiona Godlee: My biggest career failure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-37061\" src=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2016\/07\/fi_blog.jpg\" alt=\"fi_blog\" width=\"160\" height=\"117\" \/>Like most of us, I have known failure. I tried to get into Cambridge to do preclinical medicine from sixth form\u2014twice: once in my fourth term and again in my seventh. Both attempts were unsuccessful. Instead I went to University College London and got to know London (my favourite city), and had the added benefit of studying history of medicine at the Wellcome Institute. But I did subsequently get to Cambridge for the fourth and fifth years of medical school and I live there now.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>I nearly didn\u2019t get my first job at <em>The BMJ<\/em>. Having passed the membership of the Royal Colleges of Physicians, I was shortlisted for the journal\u2019s editorial registrar job in 1989 but asked to defer for a year so I could take up a general medical registrar rotation in London. When I reapplied the following year I wasn\u2019t shortlisted. I remember getting the letter and calling my mother in tears. She told me not to be so wet, it was obviously a mistake, and that I should phone them immediately and explain. I did, and they said it was a mistake. The moral of that story is that you should always listen to your mother and appeal a decision if you think it\u2019s wrong.<\/p>\n<p>In 1995, while in the US on a Harkness fellowship, I was shortlisted for the <em>Lancet<\/em> editorship. The selection process took months and in the end it came down to two of us, me and Richard Horton who was then an assistant editor on the <em>Lancet<\/em> as I was on <em>The BMJ<\/em>. Richard was offered the job and I thought my life was over. But one kind mentor told me I would live to be grateful, and she was right. It\u2019s possible that had I got the <em>Lancet<\/em> job at that early stage in my editing career, both I and the journal would have suffered from my inexperience. And I might have been too busy to go to the party in January 1996 where I met my husband.<\/p>\n<p>Things tend to turn out alright in the end, and as my brother often reminds me, if it\u2019s not alright, it\u2019s not the end.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Fiona Godlee<\/strong>, Editor in chief, <\/em>The BMJ<em>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>A recent article in <\/em><strong>Student BMJ<\/strong><em> asked six doctors to reflect\u00a0on their biggest career disappointments. This blog was originally published as <a href=\"http:\/\/student.bmj.com\/student\/view-article.html?id=sbmj.i3614\">part of the article<\/a>.<br \/>\n<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Like most of us, I have known failure. I tried to get into Cambridge to do preclinical medicine from sixth form\u2014twice: once in my fourth term and again in my [&#8230;]<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"btn btn-secondary understrap-read-more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2016\/07\/15\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\/\">More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[116,224],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37059","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editors-at-large","category-students"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Fiona Godlee: My biggest career failure - The BMJ<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2016\/07\/15\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fiona Godlee: My biggest career failure - The BMJ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Like most of us, I have known failure. I tried to get into Cambridge to do preclinical medicine from sixth form\u2014twice: once in my fourth term and again in my [...]More...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2016\/07\/15\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The BMJ\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bmjdotcom\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-07-15T14:31:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-07-15T14:32:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2016\/07\/fi_blog.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"BMJ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@bmj_latest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@bmj_latest\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"BMJ\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/15\\\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/15\\\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"BMJ\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ba3da426ed20e8f1d933ca367d8216fe\"},\"headline\":\"Fiona Godlee: My biggest career failure\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-15T14:31:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-07-15T14:32:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/15\\\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":405,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/15\\\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/fi_blog.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Editors at large\",\"Students\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/15\\\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/15\\\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/15\\\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\\\/\",\"name\":\"Fiona Godlee: My biggest career failure - The BMJ\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/15\\\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/15\\\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/fi_blog.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-07-15T14:31:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-07-15T14:32:05+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/15\\\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/15\\\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/15\\\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/fi_blog.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/fi_blog.jpg\",\"width\":160,\"height\":117},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/2016\\\/07\\\/15\\\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Fiona Godlee: My biggest career failure\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/\",\"name\":\"The BMJ\",\"description\":\"Helping doctors make better decisions.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"The BMJ\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/The-BMJ-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/files\\\/2018\\\/05\\\/The-BMJ-logo.jpg\",\"width\":852,\"height\":568,\"caption\":\"The BMJ\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/bmjdotcom\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/bmj_latest\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ba3da426ed20e8f1d933ca367d8216fe\",\"name\":\"BMJ\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b4d8f39281bcae118348a1c027347b8e53b82d42520e774a8b50dd9a6ac6c01d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b4d8f39281bcae118348a1c027347b8e53b82d42520e774a8b50dd9a6ac6c01d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b4d8f39281bcae118348a1c027347b8e53b82d42520e774a8b50dd9a6ac6c01d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"BMJ\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blogs.bmj.com\\\/bmj\\\/author\\\/admin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Fiona Godlee: My biggest career failure - The BMJ","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2016\/07\/15\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Fiona Godlee: My biggest career failure - The BMJ","og_description":"Like most of us, I have known failure. I tried to get into Cambridge to do preclinical medicine from sixth form\u2014twice: once in my fourth term and again in my [...]More...","og_url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2016\/07\/15\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\/","og_site_name":"The BMJ","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bmjdotcom\/","article_published_time":"2016-07-15T14:31:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-07-15T14:32:05+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2016\/07\/fi_blog.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"BMJ","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@bmj_latest","twitter_site":"@bmj_latest","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"BMJ","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2016\/07\/15\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2016\/07\/15\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\/"},"author":{"name":"BMJ","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#\/schema\/person\/ba3da426ed20e8f1d933ca367d8216fe"},"headline":"Fiona Godlee: My biggest career failure","datePublished":"2016-07-15T14:31:01+00:00","dateModified":"2016-07-15T14:32:05+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2016\/07\/15\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\/"},"wordCount":405,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2016\/07\/15\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2016\/07\/fi_blog.jpg","articleSection":["Editors at large","Students"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2016\/07\/15\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2016\/07\/15\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2016\/07\/15\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\/","name":"Fiona Godlee: My biggest career failure - The BMJ","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2016\/07\/15\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2016\/07\/15\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2016\/07\/fi_blog.jpg","datePublished":"2016-07-15T14:31:01+00:00","dateModified":"2016-07-15T14:32:05+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2016\/07\/15\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2016\/07\/15\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2016\/07\/15\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2016\/07\/fi_blog.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2016\/07\/fi_blog.jpg","width":160,"height":117},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2016\/07\/15\/fiona-godlee-my-biggest-career-failure\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Fiona Godlee: My biggest career failure"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#website","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/","name":"The BMJ","description":"Helping doctors make better decisions.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#organization","name":"The BMJ","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2018\/05\/The-BMJ-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/files\/2018\/05\/The-BMJ-logo.jpg","width":852,"height":568,"caption":"The BMJ"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/bmjdotcom\/","https:\/\/x.com\/bmj_latest"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/#\/schema\/person\/ba3da426ed20e8f1d933ca367d8216fe","name":"BMJ","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b4d8f39281bcae118348a1c027347b8e53b82d42520e774a8b50dd9a6ac6c01d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b4d8f39281bcae118348a1c027347b8e53b82d42520e774a8b50dd9a6ac6c01d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b4d8f39281bcae118348a1c027347b8e53b82d42520e774a8b50dd9a6ac6c01d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"BMJ"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/"],"url":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37059","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37059\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}