On Mentorship
Mentorship is a powerful thing for both sides of the table.
Over the years, I have been in what feels like hundreds of mentor-mentee relationships. Some are “formal,” in which both parties recognize that the purpose of this talk is for mentorship. Others are less formal. Where I am being mentored by a friend.
I believe that these relationships can exist across any age. I think that you can learn from people 50 years older than you, but also 10 years (or more) younger than you. You learn from people who are much wiser than you. But you also learn from people far more innocent than you.
For me, I most enjoy learning from people who are either very different from me (in that their past experiences are nothing like mine) or very similar in that they can really relate to me.
There are good and bad mentors. I think some people, though they often have good intentions, can lead people down the “wrong” path. It is the job of the mentee to filter out incoming advice and pick things that align with their internal values. That can be really tricky to navigate, often times people get distracted.
The best mentors, however, like finding opportunities to 10x people’s careers. They are looking for “special” and “unique” opportunities to have a non-replicable impact on a person’s life. That is rare, but again very powerful.
I am becoming more and more fascinated by these relationships. Recently, I participated in a mentor session via a program called Out of Office Hours. It was a great experience. Really do recommend.
Other things:
I am thinking more about engaging my school’s alumni network. How can we further engage them?
I am thinking about finding ways to give back more and provide value for more people.
Originally published at Jordan Gonen.
By jordangonen on February 4, 2017.
Exported from Medium on February 17, 2018.