Mentor for the moment

Mentoring doesn't need to be permanent to be influential

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
tip is that mentoring can be for a moment. Mentoring
doesn't have to be for life to be meaningful and influential.

(00:29):
So I recently encountered the concept of mentor for the
moment and Gallop's Strength Finder's Handbook. Regardless of your personal strengths,
appreciating the value of mentors for the moment can be wise.
You offer help when you can, and you take help
when you need it without feeling like any of this

(00:49):
needs to be permanent. Mentoring for the moment also allows
for casting a wider net for potential mentors and mentees.
For instance, maybe you've been out of the workforce for
several years, your next door neighbor is an executive at
a major corporation. You probably aren't giving this person professional advice.

(01:12):
But maybe you've just helped your two oldest children through
the college application process, and your neighbor has a high
school sophomore. You can mentor your neighbor through the process
as needed. Or maybe a summer intern on your team
has an opportunity to give an important presentation. You can
mentor her for the next few weeks as you teach

(01:35):
her how to be comfortable presenting in a higher stakes
professional situation. It's okay that this mentee may be going
on to a completely different field later. You are mentoring
for the moment. You can also seek out mentorship for
the moment. Maybe you've got a first book coming out

(01:57):
and someone has put you in touch with a veteran author.
You might arrange for a few meetups to chat and
ask questions without putting any obligation on that person to
keep doing these regular meetups long term. That makes it
a lot easier to say yes. In any case, mentorship

(02:18):
can wind up being made bigger and scarier than it
needs to be. In Cheryl Sandberg's book lean In, she
has a whole chapter on how younger people sometimes go
around hunting for the perfect mentor is going to make
their career. But the truth is that mentors often appear
when you are doing good work, because people get excited

(02:39):
about that and want to see you succeed. If you've
identified a specific need where you'd like someone's help, asking
for a very short term mentoring relationship makes it easier
for the person to say yes. You are not bound
for life. You are bound for the moment and you

(03:03):
can probably get a lot done during that time. In
the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's
to making the most of our time. Thanks for listening

(03:24):
to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or

(03:47):
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.