What is a Mentor and Who Needs One Anyway?
The first part of the question is quite complicated and before we explore it, we can easily answer the second part which is quite simple. Everyone should have a mentor! What type of mentor and where that mentor is found are ancillary, but very important questions that also must be answered.
The term mentor comes from ancient Greek mythology, Homers Odyssey to be exact where we find Odysseus friend mentor entrusted with the management of Odysseus household and care of his son Telemachus, while Odysseus is fighting in the Trojan War. The evolution of the meaning of the word mentor includes the concepts of advisor, teacher, friend and guide and a clear understand of those four aspects are critical to the selecting the right mentor and benefiting from the relationship.
We have parents, grandparents, friends, associates, bosses, commanders and leaders in our lives and they are all important in their own way to how we live and how we succeed or fail in our goals and endeavors, but none of them fulfill the role of a true mentor. We take our hopes, fears, goals and challenges to our mentor and receive feedback (positive and negative) in a direct and honest manner of communication that facilitates the relationship. Advice is given and received, without the pressure of an agenda defined by the relationships mentioned above, and options and decisions can be test driven in a safe environment.
I benefitted greatly in my military career and subsequently in my private sector endeavors from having the good fortune to be taken under the wing of two incredible mentors, without whom the modest successes I have achieved in life would not have been possible.
As a young staff sergeant, team/section leader, I had the good fortune to meet and serve with a recent Academy graduate a lieutenant that was going places both in his own words and the words of the company leadership. Since we both knew things the other needed to know to be successful, our relationship was strong and enduring, but over the years he (though younger) would assume the role of mentor as I was privileged to be a Platoon Sergeant to his Platoon Leader, First Sergeant to his Company Commander and in several staff positions as he rose rapidly through the ranks and excelled at all levels. Our wives always called us the odd couple, he came from a well-to-do family, graduated near the top of his class at the Point and was destined for great things early in life, while I was from a modest country family and entered the military as means of getting a college education paid form before I found it was a way of life in which I thrived. He always tells me that we helped and taught and supported each other through the years and maybe that is true to an extent, but I certainly have always felt that I got much more than I received.
After leaving the military, I embarked on a career in Human Resources, with a brief foray into finance and accounting early on in the process, in the manufacturing business. As I was facing the career choice of finance/accounting or human resources, but not both as it had been in the small business where I started out, I again was blessed to hook up with a mentor. And the odd couple appellation could no longer be reserved for the relationship I had with the LT (something I call him to this day, even though he retired as a Lieutenant Colonel). My company was purchased by a larger manufacturer and the VP of HR saw something (to this day I am not sure what) and gave me the opportunity to help him shape human resources in a fast expanding corporation. I am glad I took that opportunity as I was privileged to gold positions of HR Manager/Director at the division, site, region and country level over the following ten years and continued to learn from him even as I retired and he moved on to a new company and challenge. We are in touch on a regular basis to this day.
The secret to the success of my relationship with my mentors was open, honest communication not being afraid to ask or to say I didnt know what to do and being willing to accept the feedback, some positive but a lot of it crushingly (initially) honest and critical of my actions or plans. These two helped me through professional and personal challenges and successes and I could not have succeeded without them and for their advice and counsel I will be forever grateful.
I have a couple of folks through whom I am paying it forward and often muse about what my mentors would have told when I faced similar challenges. Growing older (on some ways wiser and in some ways probably not), it is as rewarding to see these young people succeed, doing things I wanted to do or that I did to lesser degrees, as it was to achieve success myself.
Anyone else have a mentor or two?
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There are as many methods and styles of mentoring as there are mentors and mentees, but most all situations involve communication, problem-solving, growth and success around this model
I've had many mentors and would only like to thank them-- most of them are dead now, but a few are still alive! Thankfully!
I've also been a mentor, and tried to help other geologists. Easier said than done...
Great article!
Dowser
Thanks for the feedback
I am sure you are a trusted mentor to many