The Ideal Mentor
On the last day of “Mentor Month” I came across a recent article about the importance of mentoring that included an impressive list of 12 Women We Wish Were Our Mentors.
I liked the article and admire the women picked as ideal mentors. But, it got me thinking about how often we wish and wait for the perfect mentor or opportunity to come along instead of finding and building mutual mentoring relationships that lead to our best selves and best opportunities.
I was reminded of a small but powerful book Because You Believed in Me by Marcia McMullen and Patricia Miller. The book shares stories about the impact that mentors had on the lives and work of some of the most extraordinary leaders and innovators of our time.
A common characteristic of these mentors was that they could clearly see what their mentee could be at her/his very best. It occurs to me that our ideal mentor is not necessarily a famous, highly successful person but rather one who sees and can bring out the very best in us.
Are you wishing you had the “perfect” mentor, the one you think has all the answers that can open all the right doors? Or are you building mentoring relationships with people who believe in you and in whom you believe so that you can inspire each other to achieve the very best in each of you?
We’d love to hear about your mentor or mentee. Share your story here.