One of the many hats I wear professionally is mentoring. This means I get the opportunity to play golf with a lot of upcoming superstars of the business world. What’s exciting to me is all of them are out to find the one thing they could not get in school or cannot get from other start-up type businesses of interest to them which is…EXPERIENCE. And..experience is what I have and enjoy sharing.
Experience is one of the weaknesses many young junior executives and start up business owners lack. Most people starting out in a new venture prove to have the technical knowledge, their know how is usually superior; the idea processing usually is sound; and the drive to make it happen is almost always there. What is not available to them is a sounding board…someone who can see the process or not and can evaluate from ‘experience’ if the direction that is taken is the most sound or not.
One of the other weaknesses people who are stepping out into the world of business ownership, or executive positions, is accepting and understanding the word…’No’. Most of the time this weakness of not being able to handle rejection of their thought or rejection as a whole is why they seek a mentor to help them through developing their weaknesses. That is one of the values good mentoring offers.
Sometimes, the process of developing the mentee’s strengths and weaknesses just takes a quick reaffirmation from someone who has been there and sometimes it takes a complete overhaul of attitude and mechanics of the mentee’s approach to life. Either way, the acceptance of the word… No… is a basic requirement towards developing strengths and overcoming weaknesses.
This is not to say that understanding the complete definition of the word ‘Yes’ comes easy. Many times in the business world the word Yes can be a thinly veiled ‘No’. Telling them apart is where the lack of experience will get people in trouble. It all comes down to developing the weakness most mentees have which is being able to…listen.
It is not easy being a mentor and is why I only take on a few clients each year. I take what I do very seriously and, unlike other who call themselves mentors, I will not leave until their are results. Don’t ask me to give you references. One of the stipulations I make with my mentees deals with maximum non-disclosure since I feel very strongly it is the mentee who is out to develop their strengths in the business world, not me. It is my clients who should get the recognition of their accomplishments, not me. For mentors to advertise who has been a client comes across as boasting and self serving. I am not one to take the credit of the person deserving the credit. If there is a trust issue and your interested in getting a leg up on obtaining sound business operations advice, I offer a ‘mentoring chat’ to see if there is a fit.
If your interested I currently am accepting mentees and have an online program if you would like to explore that avenue. You know how to get in touch with me. If not, let me know how I can help.
