The mention of mentors and mentoring seem to be on the rise again. There were discussions and articles about 10 years ago, and then they went away.
I missed out; in my life I never really have a mentor. My father passed while I was in college and my bosses always seemed to be located in different locations. The closest I came was at Waste Management when I worked closely with my boss, until the takeover purge. I was there for less than a year and he was gone a month after me, after 20 years.
But, I was at an event recently and SCORE was pitching that they provided mentoring services. They stated that this was not a new service. I have been to SCORE events frequently over the years and never heard them talk about mentoring individuals. I have to say I am intrigued,
I also have read in an article that an actress who had no mentors when she started her business is now mentoring women entrepreneurs.
Earlier in the year, I have been asked to mentor a client’s child; this is the heir apparent the one that will be running the company in the future. The internal mentor does not seem have all of the skills, nor possibly the temperament.
For myself, I guess I utilize my BOA as mentors. I ask them for their opinions on all sorts of topics and issues. What I miss most it the IT advisors the most, I had a falling out with one and the other passed away, way too early.
I know enough to no make decision in a bubble. Get advice from those who know and you trust and listen to those who others may ignore, some people ignore others unless they are sycophants. Outliers are valuable.