This book is frankly mis-titled. It’s not addressed to mentors but to mentees. It’s a guide to mentees on how to guide their own development in a mentoring relationship. Despite the mis-titling, it’s really good. And in support of the title, the only way to become a great mentor is to become a great mentee – that is, a great learner of how to succeed at your position. So in a sense, it’s written to…
The field of workplace management has moved, in recent decades, from just being about organizing people for financial profits to also incorporating social and even spiritual values into employees’ career development. Today, good employees demand not just a paycheck but a place where they can grow and develop in some way. How are managers to avoid being caught flat-footed to these changing circumstances? Most managers lead by how they’ve been managed in the past, and…
Recent research has made it clear that mentorship plays an incredibly strong role in launching careers in STEMM. However, much of education remains organized around traditional missional axes of teaching, research, and service. Mentorship plays a determining factor in all three aspects. It accelerates and perpetuates careers. The National Academies, filled with the most outstanding scholars in America, supplied this consensus statement about the research around this topic. Based on evidence, they summarize findings and…
Modern leadership is often contrasted with healthy relationships. Leaders, we are told, have to be a lonely and isolated genius, like Steve Jobs. However, in truth, no one can lead without relying on other people. Getting things done requires healthy relationships, and most key advances just cannot be made without others’ influence. In this book, leadership psychologist Henry Cloud examines how to best take advantage of others’ help by identifying mutually beneficial relationships. Cloud’s main…
Coaching and mentoring are crucial ingredients for success in almost every endeavor. At first, the coachee needs to learn technical skills to succeed, but later, they must learn how to navigate more complex areas with many shades of grey. For instance, coachees might need to figure out how to find fulfillment and happiness in the midst of competing demands in work and family. There is no black-and-white answer for these. Fortunately, the authors of this…
Education invests over a decade into teaching youth about life and their speciality, but the need to learn does not stop with graduation. In some ways, it’s just starting. The wise learn how to learn in their organization and community. This allows them to adapt and advance over time. This collection of essays, written by business leaders and compiled by the Harvard Business Review, initiates and inspires learners in their quest to benefit from those…
Mentoring relationships are point-blank critical to career development. They’re not just for the school setting but for anyone interested in a growing career. This book, written by three MDs in academic medicine, delineates the principles of mentoring based on research and experiences. It concisely teaches how to be both an effective mentor and an effective mentee (an under-appreciated virtue). Finally, it has a lengthy appendix (around 50 pages) that provides summaries of articles about mentoring,…
Many students and people in their early careers need to learn how to think and act about careers. To them, learning this understanding can be an “elephant in the room” holding them back from achieving their goals – and personal happiness. Mentoring is one way to help these people get their lives on track. This tool is especially used in educational settings. However, mentoring is harder than it first appears. To help mentee-mentor relationships get…
As adults move from school into the workplace, learning from teachers in formal settings often shifts to learning from mentors in more informal settings. However, in this new environment, being a successful mentee is often more important than having a successful mentor. Being a successful mentee means growing in self-awareness and persistent towards finding out the right answers to your specific dilemmas. Learning to ask the right questions to the right people in the right…
The next generation is always society’s most important resource, so it follows that mentoring youth is an important activity. The author Weiston-Serdan leads a non-profit network of youth mentors in Southern California. She encounters situations where mentors have to unpack social baggage that can hold youth back – issues like race, gender, class, and sexuality. These issues are often classified under the label of critical theory, issues where power relationships can exist. Therefore, her message…