Models of Mentoring: A rethink
What do YOU have to teach?
At the conclusion of the Social Entrepreneurship Summit last week, David Pecaut, Chair of the Toronto City Summit Alliance challenged participants to reconsider the traditional paradigms of mentoring as they sought to increase the capabilities and reach of those practicing social entrepreneurialism. Regardless their chosen field, many who have laid claim to a successful career would credit one or more mentors with imparting the essential wisdom and teachings that allowed them to move through their professional rites of passage. Who are these people, how can we find them, and what secrets are they imparting?
One of Pecaut’s other roles is as a Senior Partner of The Boston Consulting Group, a management consulting firm, and to illustrate a point he relayed the following example:
A 25-year-old junior member of the firm was asked to mentor a newly emigrated 42 year old marketing executive who was in search of work. She was daunted by the task and was uncomfortable with the arrangement. What on earth could she possibly teach this fellow? Perhaps the roles should be reversed? As it turned out, this executive’s resume was a mess by North American standards, and she was able to teach him effective written communication skills that eventually led to his employment.
Mentoring need not be limited to young people seeking the input of those with grey hair (or none at all!); rather it can include the transfer of essential skills. We can (and should) invent new models for mentoring.
What skills do you have to share and with whom will you share them?
BoardMatch is one source I know of where professionals can share their skills with organizations in need, but if you are aware of others please include them as a comment on this site.
David is a practicing management consultant and recent MBA grad from the Rotman School of Management. David’s passion for developing the thinking and leadership potential of others is manifested in both his vocation and his pro-bono efforts.