MentoringThe Be!ng Leaders’ Mentoring Program Advantage
At Being Leaders Academy, we believe that as credible mentors, we need to be familiar with the technical aspects of our mentee’s role, deeply informed about the managerial and wider organisational context of our mentee’s responsibilities, and genuinely empathic with our mentee’s aspirations for personal and career development. This is because we regard it as ineluctable truth that our mentorship will lead to growth and transformation for our mentees only when we are able to help them:
Address urgent problems by breaking down organisational barriers, challenging old perceptions, and building new systems.
Engage effectively in complex operational and strategic problem solving, networking, and managing high-level relationships.
Build local and organisational knowledge and insight,
Demonstrate cultural and political awareness, and the ability to work with multiple stakeholders.
Craft a lifelong learning agenda with a focus on motivating, empowering and developing self and others.
Testimonials from the people, organisations and sectors we have worked in, give us heart that we are on the right track.
If you are looking for professional mentoring, please contact us on: admin@beingleaders.org
Famous Mentor-Mentee Relationships
Ed Roberts, the pioneering computer engineer who invented Altair 8800, showed Bill Gates and Paul Allen the ropes of running a business and became their overall mentor. The joint statement that Gates and Allen released on Roberts’ death in 2010, was a very personal ode to “an intense man with a great sense of humour, [who] always cared deeply about the people who worked for him, including us. Ed was willing to take a chance on us – two young guys interested in computers long before they were commonplace – and we have always been grateful to him.”
Oprah Winfrey’s friendship with Maya Angelou began when Oprah was a reporter in her twenties at the beginning of her career. As the years went by, Maya Angelou became what Oprah Winfrey described as her “mentor-mother-sister-friend”.
Maya gave Oprah advice that changed Winfrey’s approach to her life and career. When asked by Oprah “what she would say to a younger version of herself” Angelou is famously supposed to have replied, “I would encourage her to forgive. It’s one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself, to forgive. Forgive everybody.”
Back in 2005, Mark Zuckerberg shadowed Don Graham, CEO of the Washington Post Company, for several days to learn how a CEO ought to behave. The relationship deepened. Zuckerberg’s relationship with Graham formed the template Zuckerberg would later rely on in seeking mentorship. His roster of mentors includes people like the late Steve Jobs, and present philanthropists and tech-investors like Bill Gates and Marc Andreessen respectively.
Ground Realities
The Millennial generation views work as a key part of life, not a separate activity that needs to be “balanced.” For that reason, it places a strong emphasis on finding work that’s personally fulfilling and affords the opportunity to make new friends, learn new skills, and connect to a larger purpose.
Generation Z for its part, is intuitive and independent in its responses to zeitgeist challenges. Not surprising, given that it began life in an era where the reflexive reaction to life’s challenges is to search the world for someone who has already encountered the issue and can suggest a workaround. Millennial and Generation Z employees seek greater mentorship from their employers, seeing it as critical to workplace success. They willingly accept that in the iConnected world, professional and personal development is a continuous activity.