My thoughts: 10 Things To Look for in a Mentor
February 25th, 2012Last night I was having a conversation on twitter about mentors and I decided to put together a list of the 10 Things to look for in mentor. I hope you enjoy, and please feel free to leave a comment.
1. Selfless – Your mentor has to be selfless, they have to be the kind of person who think about others first before they think about themselves. (Hard to find I know)
2. Character – They want to see other people win, especially you. Your mentor should be someone you respect and admire.
3. Experience – They have knowledge beyond your years and have no issues sharing what they’ve learned with you. Your mentor can be older or even younger than you are. The point is that they can teach you and coach you.
4. Patient – They understand the value of patience and growth. They usually allow you to grow and learn at your own pace.
5. Present & Available – I believe a mentor should have the time to talk and interact with you. If your mentor is too busy for you it defeats the purpose. When you do interact with them, they must be mentally present and not occupied with their busy life or schedule.
6. Visionaries - They are considered visionaries. They see the world from a different angle and can articulate their vision properly. They also think differently than you do.
7. Trustworthy – I think trust is one of the most fundamental parts of the mentor/mentee relationship. There has to be a level of trust between both parties it strengthens the relationship
8. Positive – They live day to day as a positive person. They see the cup as half full. These characteristics will surely rub off on you.
9. Direction & Goals From my experience they should be a in different profession than you or at least have different goals in life. It is not the rule but works best in my opinion. They have absolutely no desire to compete with you.
10. Believes in You – They have no issues telling you things you never want to hear. They believe in your potential and help you win at your own pace.
These are my thoughts on what to look for in a mentor. Please feel free to add or subtract from my thoughts. These are not rules just thoughts and ideas based on my experiences and the people have talked to about this.
I love the list above, one thing I would like to add is a mentor has to believe in what you belive in, its defeats the purpose if he/she is all about money and your goal is as simple as contentment ans happiness. So what I mean by ‘believe in the same things’ I mean, your ideas must not be a paralell world, even if there might be differences in opinions because of different experiences, but what is important is that you can find common ground where there will be fertile ground for learning.
Good read, I think 5 and 10 are extremely important!
Great list, Marcus. I think we should also realize that there are a lot of things we can do to be great mentees as well. Often, it seems that people are so caught up in what soaking up game that they lose sight for how valuable they can be to a mentor, sort of how children can be just as important to a parent’s development than the other way around.
That list would include several things. Being a good listener is very important, to make that advising process easier for your mentor and for you to be more successful. Also, making yourself available if your mentor needs help; as an example, I see you as a mentor, and when I knew you needed writers for Argue All Day, I immediately dug through my contact list to see how I could help. I think that the mentor/mentee relationships these days can be a lot more one-sided than people may think if they’re willing to soak up game and reassess their own value when speaking with people. I think you should make a list of ways to be a great mentee as well; because great mentees usually do become great mentors down the line.
Hope all is well homie.
That all sounds amazing but where dies one find a mentor/mentee? And when you feel someone would be a great mentor, how do you ask them?
I’ve been wanting a mentor to pass my ideas around to, someone unrealated and will tell me exactly how it is without being afraid to offens me. Been so hard connecting with people because of my ‘keep to self’ personality.
Would love some suggestions
Join us here tomorrow at 8pm imeet.com/themarcustroyexperience we will discuss this!
Sounds good… Thanks
Marcus
Great list and Imeet session last night. I had a chance to hear the session but my mic was not working so I could not give my input. I found it very interesting that there was a lot of people looking for that “one” right mentor (from when I was tuned in) but I also think that it’s important to have a circle of mentors that you look up to or watch how they move. As we all learn from one another there will always be an end to what someone can teach or show you. When that moment comes with a mentor that does not make them useless or on to the next but rather that mentor should be put into “your circle of mentors” as you move forward.
My point is we can spend a lot of time looking for that one right mentor but there can be a collective of people as well.
Love your work and the MT experience.
D