I recently gave a talk on mentorship for NYC Lady Project (fantastic organization). Since mentorship is such a loaded word these days — I decided to look up the actual definition just for fun. But the funniest part was the pop up I encountered:
“Mentor is currently in the 1% of lookups and is the 308th most popular lookup on Merriam-Webster.”
That immediately said to me that while people may be seeking mentorship, they don’t know what the heck they are looking for. I hear so many conversations about what mentorship is — or more often — what it isn’t. People say that you don’t need a mentor you need a sponsor. Or that you need to invest in a long term relationship for it to qualify as mentorship. The way I see it…why quibble? Take whatever mentoring you can get and look everywhere for opportunities to mentor. It gives and pays back.
There is no mutual exclusivity. Have your mentor help you find your sponsor. Take short-term mentorship advice from those who don’t have the time to commit due to lifestyle or career commitments. Then see who you connect with naturally to build a longer term mentor relationships. The world is your mentor. Take it!
As promised, here is the Slideshare link for my talk. Enjoy! https://www.slideshare.net/secret/jNg7OqpZM7zhRR
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