It's not easy to become a medical school professor if you're a woman. Only 34% of med school faculty members are female, according to the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). That daunting statistic is one of the reasons Nadine Katz, senior associate dean, professor and director of medical education in the department of obstetrics, gynecology and women's health at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, in New York City, got interested in helping aspiring female med school professors achieve their goals.

Katz has taught a leadership course at AAMC for the last eight years. One of the themes she covers: how to pick and stick to career goals. Her strategy has proved effective in the medical realm, but she has also found that it applies to any profession and regardless of your gender.

The first step, according to Katz: Take full responsibility for your career. You may be sailing along with tons of support from your colleagues, your family and your boss. But you need to take hold of your future. “Your success and your promotion should be your focus,” she says. “When you choose projects and you get involved in service work or committees, there should be a strategy to that,” she adds. Too many of us get swept up entirely in day-to-day matters, she observes. Read complete ForbesWoman blog post.