If you want to grow, put yourself in a virtuous circle.
If you take on a mentee and share your knowledge, you’ll get feedback that will make you smarter for the effort. Mentees often try your advice in the real world and report back to you on results. This is the circle of knowledge.
I know, we are all too busy to take on more work. This is different. When you adopt a mentee, you take on a project to coach, educate and grow a person. While it takes time, the rewards are huge.
Your ‘students’, more often than not, repay you by learning. When you see your advice making a difference, it inspires you and gives you energy for your day to day obligations. Why? Because we love to teach and make a difference. If you go too long without a mentee, you will eventaully live in a knowledge bubble. You will only take in information, and occassionally use it for personal or company gain. When you mentor, you put your knowledge into a loop, where you exapand your point of view and update it.
Mentors have the freshest perspective because they are interactive. If you don’t have a mentee, look around for one this week. I’ve got three right now: A speaker, an author and a friend. I’m enjoying the process and gaining much more than I’m giving. Try it and you’ll see.
