Power Mentoring

This week for our ExecuBooks Blog we’re blogging about ‘power mentoring’. I love the insights that come out of our weekly topics and this week is no exception. It never occurred to me to go to one source for absolutely everything. That would be like hiring an accountant to give you everything from financial to medical advice and that would be ridiculous. Yet many believe they have to go to one person for the end all and be all of mentoring to help them move forward in their careers.

That too is ridiculous for how many people do we come across in this world who is masterful at everything? None that I know of.

Then I wondered how many people were hesitant to become mentors because of the pressure that’s put on them to have all the answers. I know I wouldn’t want to be put in that position. Mind you, from a coach’s perspective all that means is asking a few more questions. We don’t ‘do’ answers.

In all seriousness, I would love to hear your perspectives on this. Many organizations, government included, have mentoring programs, though often it’s hard for them to find people to sign up as mentors. This might be the reason why.

Secondly, we don’t necessarily need to know or speak to people to have them mentor us. All we need to do is pay attention….read what they’ve written and what others have written and spoken about their successes, their ways of being and how they’ve moved up the ladder of success. We don’t necessarily have to use everything they share in its pure form. We can and should tailor it to us, our personalities, professions and ways of being.

If we remember that every person we come across knows something we don’t know, that we can learn and grow from them, we will continue to evolve into our level of excellence. We can learn something from each of them but not everything there is to know from just one.

Best!
Donna Karlin