Back in my corporate period I never heard or used the word “mentor.” Those of us who were “fast trackers,” the term of the day for what we now call “high potentials,” were told to hope for a “rabbi.” A rabbi was a lot like a mentor. He (they were all he’s) was in senior management and he would smooth our career path and speed up your journey.
I had several mentors in my career. They were people who were older than me. They were wise. And they were willing to take the time to share some of that wisdom with me. But we never used the “m” world.
In fact, “mentoring” doesn’t even show up in business books before the mid-seventies. It’s not mentioned once in the entire 800 pages of Peter Drucker’s Management: Tasks Responsibilities, Practices, published in 1973. Today, you can’t get away from the term.
Leadership development and mentoring
Today the common advice is to “find a mentor” or perhaps a number of mentors. People starting out in business are told that finding a mentor is the key to a successful career. Well, maybe.
Leadership development is about learning
Leadership development is about learning from experience and from your relationships. A mentor or mentors can be part of that but having a mentor is not the point. Learning is the point. Development is the point.
Get over your mentor fixation
Concentrate on learning and growing and getting better. If a mentor or two or three show up, great. But if not, learn from your experience. Here are two bits of advice from two successful people.
From Jason Fried, the founder and CEO of Basecamp:
“I’ve never sought out mentors or teachers, because I think they are plentiful and all around us. The person who you think has all the answers probably has far fewer than you think.
I observe. When I walk into a small retail store, I observe how they do business. What’s working, what isn’t? How do they treat employees? Customers? Their merchandise? What can I learn from them at this moment?”
From Robert Herjavec, entrepreneur and Shark Tank regular:
“Stop the ‘will you be my mentor?’ emails and start being present to embrace the learning opportunities all around you. Ask your colleagues and executive team members for their points of view. Seek advice from your direct leader or leader once removed.
Start having conversations and soaking in the mentorship moments.”
