Mentor Resources
What the Best Mentors Do (hbr.org):
Mentorship comes in many flavors. It doesn’t always work unless leaders bear in mind a few common principles.
Over the past three years, as part of my forthcoming book, I’ve been researching how leaders can better judge and develop their talent in light of a changing, more purpose-driven, more tech-enabled work environment. Having interviewed close to 100 of the most admired leaders across business, culture, arts, and government, one important characteristic stands out: They do everything they can to imprint their “goodness” onto others in ways that make others feel like fuller versions of themselves. Put another way, the best leaders practice a form of leadership that is less about creating followers and more about creating other leaders. How do they do that? I’ve noticed four things the best mentors do:
Why Mentoring Matters (forbes.com)
It is fascinating to observe traders on a trading floor and then observe their performance over time. One of my consistent observations is that successful money managers alternate their time in three modes:
- In a group on the trading floor, getting a feel for what people are thinking and doing and exchanging information;
- In individual conversations on the trading floor, discussing observations and ideas with colleagues with specialized expertise;
- Off the trading floor, engaging in research and immersed in idea generation.
Drawing upon the “quiet revolution” work of Susan Cain, I’ve described this as a process of getting loud and getting quiet. The originality of the portfolio manager’s ideas is directly tied to two deep dives: one with the environment and the other more internal, synthesizing these inputs.
Facilitate Better Mentoring With These Seven Ideas (forbes.com)
Mentorship can seem like a buzzword that people use to get fast professional development, but it’s much more than that. Mentorship can be a fruitful relationship between two people, especially when you consider the exchanging of ideas that takes place. But making that connection between mentee and mentor is not always easy. It can take quite a bit of dedication and additional support to make it function properly.
Members of the Forbes Technology Council weighed in on what makes a deeper connection between mentees and mentors. They agreed that mentorship is a two-way street, but it also needs support from the company for the best possible results.
Reverse Mentoring: How Millennials are Becoming the New Mentors (Microsoft News Centre Europe)
Magnus is 28. He’s Norwegian, tech-savvy, likes a good run and has a passion for numbers. He joined Microsoft Norway a little over a year ago, wears sneakers at work and just happens to be mentoring the big boss. Who said experience was the best teacher?
In our fast-paced world flooded with social networks, new technology, digital natives and the likes of Minecraft, the need to keep up has never been greater. By 2020, millennials will represent half of the global workforce and are already well on their way to becoming the majority. With as many as 5 generations working side by side in today’s workplace, European leaders are confronted as never before with a growing generational gap, shifting expectations, as well as the constant need to stay on the cutting ‘digital’ edge.
To help, more and more senior executives are turning to their younger colleagues for insight and guidance. Traditional mentoring as we know it has shifted into reverse, turning Gen Y into the must-have mentors for senior leaders who want to stay ahead.
