A business mentor is someone who can provide you with a solid baseline of career support, keep you grounded, and help you remain self-aware during your career journey. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a mentor as: “someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person.” It’s always wise to accept help and advice from someone more experienced than you may be!
Why Is It Important For Me To Have A Mentor?
You won’t always have solutions to every possible challenge thrown your way in your career. An experienced mentor can help guide you through many challenging job-related situations, such as:
- Resolving conflicts with coworkers
- Taking advantage of potential career-growth opportunities
- Helping you improve upon your soft skills, such as communication, networking, decision making
- Giving you strategy ideas and advice concerning career progression and promotion.
What Attributes Should My Mentor Have?
A mentor acts as a career coach and your career champion. They will essentially fill the knowledge and skill gaps that are missing in your career and professional development growth. Another definition of a mentor is “Wise and trusted counselor or teacher; an influential senior sponsor or supporter.” A strong mentor should be all three of these things:
- someone whom you can trust to lead you during those times where you need guidance
- someone who can be influential; an experienced mentor will have extensive business contacts and networks
- someone who will support you in any way they can to further grow your career
I recommend that your mentor be someone within your same profession or a person who is closely aligned to what you do. You want to identify someone you can relate to in your professional life, someone who has a perspective of the daily trials and tribulations you encounter and can offer advice or insight that is appropriately aligned to your career.
I’m Anna-Vija McClain, and for the past decade, I have helped business owners boost profitability while achieving personal fulfillment. I’ve also equipped hundreds of young professionals with the skills and resources they need to transition from college into their careers successfully. I am a big proponent of mentorship programs, and I believe that it is often one of the most important keys to a person’s career success.
I’m available for speaking engagements, and I focus on delivering educational, actionable advice while empowering your attendees to accomplish their goals. Let’s connect and talk about ways I can help you achieve all your business goals!