Are You Mentor Material?

Are You Mentor Material?

- by Patti Sarr, teacher, writer, thinker

Over the years, I have come to realize that having a great mentor can truly have a positive impact on my life—not only as a busy mom and career woman, but as an individual seeking to expand emotionally and spiritually. Personally, many of the most important decisions and experiences in my life have been the result of insights I’ve gained through my mentors. For example, while attending Bakersfield State University, I learned of an opportunity to work with an English professor, Dr. Kim Flachmann. She needed an assistant to help her with editing and publication tasks while she developed a remedial writing textbook—“The Prose Reader.” I soon realized that I could learn a great deal from Dr. Flachmann and I asked if she would mentor me. Lucky for me, she graciously accepted. With Kim’s help and encouragement, I soon found myself working for Prentice Hall as a bona fide editor on another of Kim’s projects—a series of developmental writing text books—“Mosaics.” This wonderful experience led me to take on new challenges and opportunities—as a technical writer for NEC Electronics; and later, I took a position with Intel as a Marketing Communications Manager. I truly credit my ability to take on these new and exciting career opportunities to the excellent mentoring I received from Dr. Flachmann.

In the same way, becoming involved with New Directions has helped me grow emotionally. By involving myself in the New Directions network of mentors, I have made great discoveries about who I am and why I think and feel the way I do. My relationships with my husband, my children, my family members, and my friends have become richer as I’ve used the information I’ve learned.

New Directions, is of course designed to help people become more in tune with and comfortable with expressing and feeling emotions. However, another very important benefit that New Directions offers is the opportunity for mentoring and being mentored. As we know, coping and emotional empowerment skills cannot be learned in a single day or even over a New Directions weekend. Learning these skills takes practice and we can all benefit by enlisting the assistance of a mentor or by becoming a mentor.

Definition of a Mentor

History tells us that mentoring originates from Greek mythology. In Homer’s Odyssey, Odysseus entrusts his friend, Mentor, to help educate and guide his young son Telemachus during Odysseus’ absence. Mentor not only protects Telemachus; he nurtures him and introduces him to other leaders who further assist in Telemachus’ transition from boyhood to manhood.

Basically, a mentor is a trusted and experienced advisor who has invested his or her time to help direct, develop and educate another individual. A mentor achieves this by establishing a one-to-one relationship with a mentee and is committed to help that person grow, gain confidence and learn to make educated and wise choices.

There are many exciting opportunities for all of us to become or ask for a mentor. I encourage you all to think seriously about your personal goals and objectives and how participation in a New Directions workshop or webinar can help your achieve them. If you want to know if you’d make a good mentor, I encourage you to take the “Nurturing the Mentor in You: The Mentor Survey” located online at www.mentors.ca/test.html You may also want to check out “The Mentor Hall of Fame” at www.mentors.ca/mentorpairs.html. You’ll find out who mentored Allen Ginsberg, Ernest Hemingway, John Coltrane, Duke Ellington, Mohandas K. Gandhi, John Major, Thomas Jefferson and many other influential people who have had an impact on our culture, society, science, the arts and history.