Thursday, September 30, 2010

Are you ready to be a mentor?

Pretty soon, the second YLMP will be up and running. As I've mentioned several times before, being a mentor can be extremely rewarding. When done properly, mentoring relationships bring out the best in the mentor and the mentee; both come out of the experience richer for it. Mentoring goes as far back as the ancient Greeks; according to Wikipedia, "the word itself was inspired by the character of Mentor in Homer's Odyssey. Though the actual Mentor in the story is a somewhat ineffective old man, the goddess Athena takes on his appearance in order to guide young Telemachus in his time of difficulty".



Mentoring can have serious implications in our societies. Several individuals who have gone on to become great leaders in our society did not start off on that path. Sometimes for a young person, just having an older, more experienced person take them seriously and believing in them is enough inspiration/motivation to set them straight. Gone are the days when a mentor can only be a seasoned, grey-topped wo/man in a toga. Mentors come in all shapes and sizes from all walks of life. The only question is; are you ready?

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