Meaning of a Mentor | The Right One for You

Almost everyone I meet raves about the importance of having one or more great mentors in their life. Others don’t understand the meaning of a mentor or how to engage. The first step is to understand what you need to get out of the mentoring relationship. When I start working with someone, it’s critical that together we clearly determine what success looks like and what the meaning of a mentor relationship is to them.

Forbes advises that it’s easier than you think to find the right mentor, and reinforces the need to get clarity around your goals. What does success look like? Are you focused on making more money, meeting the right people, building a winning team? Your critical success factors will drive the type of person or people you want as mentors. Writing down your specific expectations of your mentor will go a long ways to helping you find the right one. For example, if your goal is to make a bigger impact in your community, to grow your business, or to write a bestselling book,  the mentor you need will be significantly different.

Understanding the meaning of a mentor–and having clarity around your goals–leads you to the next step. Look closely at those that have accomplished what you want to accomplish and ask them who has made the biggest impact. That will lead you to where to look to find the right mentor. Ask your family and friends who they know too, which will help you clarify your goals. The participants in my Master Mentor program have done that. In the Master Mentor program, the feedback is that working with a leader that has done what they want to do, and finding this group of like minded people, has given them an army of mentors, all helping each other.

Bottom line is this: People want to work with mentors that can lead them down the path of success. Whether that means introductions to the right people, getting a business plan done, raising capital, writing a book, or surviving one of life’s major transitions…the reality is that life is easier, and we can reach our goals faster with the right help at the right time. Where we find the right people to help us starts close to home with getting clarity on our goals, talking to friends and family and researching who has done it and who helped them along their journey.