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We All Need Mentors

Guest post by: Bill Boyer

Article Overview: Almost all successful individuals in sports, film, and business have had mentors.

We All Need Mentors

Experience has proven that mentors have helped managers, actors, athletes, and other successful individuals improve their performance and become more effective. As you read about athletes, business executives, and others, you will often find that a mentor relationship early in their careers helped accelerate their promotions and/or results. Many successful people will express the advantage of having someone with whom they can talk, who will suggest changes in their activities as they advance in their careers. A mentor can teach you much faster than you can learn on your own. The experiences, stories, and guidance they can provide will give you knowledge of the world before you have had to learn it from "the school of hard knocks." They have "been there, done that," and the knowledge you inherit from them will help you navigate through new experiences.

Most great athletes have personal coaches. Many of these coaches are older individuals who have years of experience, both from playing the sport and from observing others who play. Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick were coached by Brad Gilbert.

Examples of mentors are also found outside the sports world. Alexander the Great had Aristotle. John Rockefeller, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Tom Peters, and Charles Schwab all had mentors. Even movies emphasize mentor relationships: Ben Obi-wan Kenobi supported Luke Skywalker; Mr. Miyagi developed the Karate Kid.

Every champion, whatever their age, can learn from a master. They can grow in wisdom by being guided by someone with greater experience. They need a sounding board and someone who will listen in times of turmoil. When you are the top guy or considered to be the leader, you cannot always go to your employees or compatriots to discuss your problems. At times, we all need a sympathetic ear and a sounding board.

Often the mentor may be from your industry, and will have additional insight based on their knowledge of the history of the industry. He/she may know some of the other "players" and their personalities. And he/she may have experienced some of the challenges you are currently facing. Often they will have had many years of successful leadership experience.

Mentors can be a sounding board on business expansions, the acquisition of a business, or the development of a new product line. He/she can help you work through career decisions in your existing company, or decide whether you should pursue other opportunities. They can help you as you deal with other managers or subordinates in your company.

Individuals may have more than one mentor if each provides knowledge and experience different from the others. In addition, peer groups may function as a mentor relationship.

Becoming a mentor is also beneficial. By taking a bright young person under your wing, you will not only help them, you will also find that you are learning new things. These people will challenge you. You will find that verbalizing your own experience will help you refresh your abilities.

I urge you to seek mentors. It may be an old boss, or someone else in the industry, or someone from the outside that you respect. There are many experienced people with whom you can develop a professional mentor relationship. These relationships will help you and your company to grow.

Many people do not recognize the importance of mentor relationships: history has proven they are most beneficial.

Related Articles
  Characteristics of a Mentor
  Tips for Being Mentored For Success
  How do I find a passionate and purposeful mentor?
  You Don’t have to Have all of the Answers; It is okay to Seek Help Once in a While
  Difference Between Mentoring and Coaching
  When “Keeping in Touch” Hurts vs. Helps You
  Why Having a Mentor is so Important for Your Business
  Avoiding Pitfalls in Mentoring Relationships, Part II of III
  Mentoring – Winning Opportunities for Everyone
  You've Got To Be Self Confident To Ask For Help
  Avoiding Pitfalls in Mentoring Relationships Part III of III
  Self Confidence, Mentors and Success
  Mentors – Do you have one?
  Winning Opportunities For Everyone Through Mentoring
  What a Coach or Mentor Provides to Team Members
  How You Can Overcome Fear
  Q&A - Problem with a mentor
  Advice for New Entrepreneurs And Business Owners
  What To Look For In A Mentor
  3 Mistakes That Lead An Online Business To Fail

Article Tags: business coaching, leadership, Management, mentors, personnel



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Re: For all Women Entrepreneurs - Hi Cyn, its great to see you in here, I know you will be a great asset to these forums. For those of you that don't know Cyn she is one of my Mentors in the Pips Power Group and has been a enormous help to me ( and a lot of others) since I started working online. I too will soon be working full time at my business and am looking forward to the same freedom that you have in not having to work for another boss. Take care, Carol
Re: Business Coaching Resources - You're fortunate when you can find a Business Coach who has experience beyond where you've been and even where you are going. When your budget is slim and even after, it's good to have a mentor. Several of various backgrounds are very useful. They can be teachers, professors, pastors, business people, family members, bosses and former bosses. You have to be clear on what you want and what you desire to achieve, be able to convey it as simply as possible. Stop and listen and don't over tax their time. You should always expect results whether from a Business Coach or Mentors. If you're not gtting results, you're either not focused or you need to upgrade the quality of your mentors/coaches. Always surround yourself by people smarter than you.
Re: For all Women Entrepreneurs - Hi Carol Thanks for the welcome and I am sure with your dedication and perseverence that it wont be long before you can kiss your boss goodbye. Cheers for now Cyn [quote="Carol Aston":3bzehwm6]Hi Cyn, its great to see you in here, I know you will be a great asset to these forums. For those of you that don't know Cyn she is one of my Mentors in the Pips Power Group and has been a enormous help to me ( and a lot of others) since I started working online. I too will soon be working full time at my business and am looking forward to the same freedom that you have in not having to work for another boss. Take care, Carol[/quote:3bzehwm6]
Re: Hi From START.ac CrowdFunding - Hi Mal, I would love to explain a little further. START(dot)ac is a new International CrowdFunding website, and we are launching this May 2012. CrowdFunding is when a large number of people each contribute a small amount of money to fund a project. We are forming a website to host these projects on, and building a strong and large community of individuals who are interested in helping the "next big thing" be a success. Imagine if you were there for the beginning of Google or Apple, and your donations of $1 or $500 helped to bring it to life! Along with major bragging rights, if a project is successful, people who funded it get rewards depending on how much money they gave the project. At the summary level - We expands the CrowdFunding market to make a home for startup businesses and technology products. STARTac is the professional CrowdFunding site for startups and tech products. We also accept projects in many other categories (listed at the bottom). We have made nine innovations that improve upon the status quo in CrowdFunding. One is that we have inverted the selection process of projects. Potential projects go into CrowdAudition™, where our members give feedback and advice to improve the projects where relevant. The members' input plays a key role in selection of which projects go to funding. Taking this approach also means that rejected project' drivers know why they were rejected, and can better decide if and how to improve their current project, or start from scratch. We are assembling a bench of Mentors - experienced entrepreneurs and executives who want to help the new guys avoid the mistakes they made. Please let me know what you think. When we launch we will be revealing all of our nine innovative programs to the public. We are also looking for projects to host on our website for when we launch. These projects will get extra media attention and publicity throughout our social media. If you have any other questions, PLEASE feel free to ask! The categories of projects we accept are below: Art Comics Dance Design Do Good (altruistic projects) Fashion Film Food Gadgets Games Invention Kids (Youth-driven projects) Music Photography Products Publishing Small Business Start-Ups Social Enterprise (aka Social Business) Sports Technology Theater Toys Transmedia (anything that doesn’t fit into Art, Film & Video, or Photography) Writing (any writing that is not published as a book) Other


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