Mentors can be of great importance as truly remarked by Oprah Winfrey who is an American talk show host, television producer, actress, author, and philanthropist. Best known for her talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show, which is broadcasted from Chicago and is the highest-rated television program of its kind in history.
A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself. A mentor is someone who allows you to know that no matter how dark the night, in the morning joy will come. A mentor is someone who allows you to see the higher part of yourself when sometimes it becomes hidden to your view.” -Oprah Winfrey.
At times when we often lose our vision or find ourselves in dilemma. The mentors can act as a guiding light and show us the way. Be it in any field, we hear this saying again and again, that, “Everyone needs a mentor in their career, if not several”. The best thing about mentors is they can prove to be valuable to us at just any stage of our career, whether we are looking for a job or trying to adjust to a new role or we are exploring a new and intimidating path. But what constitutes a great mentor? And what qualities we must look for in a great mentor. Here are the Five Traits to Look for in a Great Mentor
Relevant Expertise or Knowledge:
It is an obvious thing but the mentor we are looking forward to sharing a mentor-mentee relationship should have a relevant background to what we are striving to be or choosing to be. They should have been few or many levels ahead of us in the field of the question and they should have worked for some time in that role or area in which we are working. All in all, they should be motivated and enthusiastic, pushing us forward on the path we are working in as they have been there for a lot of time and knows what are the do’s and don’ts and what it takes to be successful in that area of work. Apart from this having some common interest and things can be very helpful in establishing a healthy relationship with them.
A Respectful Attitude:
We should not get in a place where we may get to face the Brunt of constant unconstructive criticism and be treated harshly and be called by humiliating names. That will inevitably end in an unproductive and frustrating partnership which will do more bad than good to us and our business. We should try to look for someone who even on rare occasions mistreats or criticize us, they must acknowledge it and try to apologize for it.
The Ability to Give Honest and Direct Feedback:
Finding a respectful mentor can be the key and also comforting but it should be also combined with the please quality of giving us some tough love when we need it. As a great mentor is someone who can constructively give Honest feedback and also be kind and direct by being honest.
Reflective Listening:
Being a mentor they may be very helpful and often looking forward to guiding us and spare some piece of advice. But rather than assuming and sharing a random piece of advice, we may look for someone ready to listen intently and curiously and then try to answer all the questions from their vast knowledge and expertise
Enthusiasm for Sharing That Expertise:
It is as much as important as having knowledge and expertise of the given field that they are open and willing to share it and guide us. As sometimes we know how frustrating it can be listening to a random piece of advice or vaguely getting things. On the contrary, they should be excited to share from their hard-won wisdom so we can get benefit from it. For instance, Reza Satchu is a serial entrepreneur and investor from Toronto, Canada. He is the Managing Partner and Founder of Alignvest Management Corporation, a leading private investment firm.
Reza Satchu is also the Founding Chairman of Next Canada, whose mission is to increase Canadian prosperity and accelerate the trajectory of Canada’s most promising
In Conclusion:
It can be a very tough job to find a mentor who is best for us but we can look for the said qualities to get benefit from them without getting in a tug of war and wasting their as well as our time. And build a symbiotic relationship between them and us.
