Something common to most successful people I’ve encountered is that they are willing to share their success. In fact, some successful people actually look for people to coach. And, some with the desire to succeed seek out the successful to learn from them.
Having mentors could save you a lot of trouble and give you an ‘unfair advantage’. Having a mentor means you get to build into your future on the foundation of the failures and wisdom of others. Don’t waste your time and energy making mistakes someone else has already made.
Don’t waste another’s success and failures. Glean from them.
A mistake some young leaders make is seeking to be “self-made”. I’ve said it before and will say it again: no one is a “self made success”. If you are going to succeed as a (young) leader you must be willing to learn.
Successful people are learning people.
Learning means putting on humility. It takes humility to learn from someone. It takes humility and courage to ask someone to mentor you. One of the few things that stand in the way of success is simply failure to ask for help and guidance. Your eyes are too riddled with blind spots and you need eyes that see and have seen more and better than yours.
A reason you and your team are stuck: You only know as much as each other! Get a mentor for a different, empowering and challenging perspective
Consider mentors as catalysts for learning and equipping. Without them you will wallow in some phases of your progress you need not to. You will fall into pits you don’t need to.
A mentor can be the one that helps you get unstuck. A good mentor will constantly challenge you out of complacency. He will remind you that you haven’t arrived and ‘aren’t all that’. He will tell you what your friends are too scared to say.
A great mentor will tell you what you need to hear without fear of losing relationship with you. We look up to our mentors, but a great mentor will challenge you to not make them your ceiling…
[image by “i’ll never grow up”, flickr, cc]
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What do you look for in a mentor?