Why You Need a Mentor (or Two)
Mentorship is defined as “the guidance provided by a mentor, especially an experienced person in a company or educational institution.” Most of our young lives are made up of phases and experiences that we have little-to-no knowledge on how to navigate. Whether it’s riding our bikes for the first time, or getting ready to interview for a position in our dream career, we are often thrown into life expected to just figure it out. This is where mentorship comes in! Personally, mentorship is at least half the reason I’m the person I am today; hat and prayer really became my formula for figuring things out.
No matter how much we’d like to believe we can be successful on our own, it takes knowledge and experience of the people before us to create a stable foundation. And that's okay! I was 8 years old when I had my first mentor, and eventually she became my (fairy) godmother!
All gifs via Giphy
She taught me so much about life. She taught me about being a woman. She taught me about church, prayer, belief, faith and fasting. She taught me how to play the piano. She taught me how to sing. After 20 years or so, she's taught me more than I can recall. But I can say with confidence that mentorship is the reason I'm well-rounded. My mentor was such an integral part in that. So much so that even now at 32 I still have mentors.
One of my current mentors is an HR consultant. She's consulted for Starbucks, Google, and Bank of America. She's worked with so many freaking companies, so she really helps me with talent acquisition and understanding contracts for talent, as well as teaching me how to retain good employees. Not only does this help me with my own team, but with my clients and their staff as well.
I also have another mentor who’s more like my life mentor. He is the former ministry director of Bishop TD Jakes Ministries. He’s taught me so many life lessons. Not only has he helped me plenty in my relationships, but he's also helped me a lot in business. When I decided to go back into consulting, (well, when God drug me back into consulting lol) he was the first person I called. I was like, “Yo, what do I need to do?” And he’d say things like, "Go with the flow until God says no."
Even when it came to company stuff, he had this saying about handing out whoopings and snacks at the same time. Basically if you're correcting people, you need to give out achievements and congratulations to other people at the same time. It’s supposed to help with company morale…
Anyway, my point is that mentorship is a key component in success whether that’s in life or in business. You are never too old or too successful to be mentored. So with that, I’ve compiled all of my notes - why you need a mentor, where to find mentors, templates for how to reach out to mentors, how to be a good mentee, questions to ask and what mentorship should feel like - and put them all in a fire freebie.
Click here to download my e-book about mentorship FOR FREE! Now...DISCLAIMER!! I am not here to mentor you, but I AM here to help you find someone best suited to you and your current needs. As always, feel free to reach out if you’ve got any questions.
