16 May 2011 | Posted inBlog News & Updates, Cool Stuff, Featured, New Hires, Recruiting Efforts
Posted by Angie
Mentor Minute…If You Had Just 5 Minutes What Would You Tell Me?
Someone recently asked me, “What would you tell me if you had just five minutes to mentor me?”
This got me thinking about how important it is to slow down for a few minutes every now and again to share a few things you’ve learned along the way with others. Here are a few things I will share with you in our five minutes together:
- Mentors don’t just have to be people. I have learned a lot from “The Donald” and his Apprentice show and from Cathie Black’s book “Basic Black” about how she climbed to the top of Hearst Magazines.
- Surround yourself with good influences…friends, colleagues, leaders outside HOK. Soon you’ll take on their traits and become a better professional.
- Ladies, wear lip gloss. It helps people focus on all the wonderful things you have to say.
- Know who would go to bat for you if/when the time comes.
- When you need a relationship it’s too late. Learn how to work a room like your life depended on it.
- Being in a car traveling with a colleague is a great opportunity to ask your captive audience member if there is anything you could tune up.
- Don’t giggle as a nervous reaction when having a challenging conversation.
- Dress for the position you want, not the one you have.
- If you have kids and you travel, always buy two copies of your kids favorite books, one for you and one for them so that you can read to them when away. Even better, Skype and read out loud to your kiddos.
- When in doubt about a situation, be conservative in your approach, in your presentation, in your dress.
- Work/life balance is overrated. Just make sure you love what you do and it will skew the whole work vs. play thing.
- Be nice to people on your way up or you may see them on your way down.
Now, what say you if you had five minutes to mentor another?
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LOVE IT! Welcome to Life@HOK, Ms. Earlywine!
Here are some of my 5 minute mentoring ideas:
1. Trust your instincts – whether it be about a person, a project, whatever. You’re smarter than you think you are.
2. She Wins, You Win – great book, read it. Basic premise is that being catty and backstabbing does not get you ahead, and really hurts women everywhere. So, help her win, and she’ll help you win.
3. Lessons come from everywhere – even if it seems reeeeeediculous, listen up. You never know where the next innovative idea is coming from.
4. Be nice to everyone – even if you never come “back down” per Angie’s note, being nice never hurts. Example – when I got married, I got all kinds of free stuff for being easy going and pleasant to work with. True for work too – my Dad STILL tells stories about how because he was cool with the maintenance guys, anytime anything broke in his lab, they would help him immediately!
5. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Back to #1 – trust yourself. If you think things are getting out of hand, ask for help early and often. People LIKE to help. People do not like it when you royally mess something up because you were too embarassed to ask for help. Not that this has ever happened to me or anything…
6. Take a vacation. You need it. It may seem like you can’t do it, but put down the BB and disconnect.
Agreed ladies, I love your insightfulness!! I also think that a good mentor should have the following qualities and then some…
- Displays a sense of self-assurance…but not too much!
- Is able to bestow confidence in the Mentee
- Strong in principles (right vs. wrong)
- Trustworthiness and dependability
- Aware of “what’s happening” both personally and business related
- Is not afraid of failure and knows how to learn from it
- Tells it like it is…no dancing around the issues
- Demonstrates genuine concern for others
- Approachable and easy to talk to
- Inspiring and motivational
- Provides a since of stability
My “I do not believe in failure. It is not failure if you enjoyed the process. ~ Good Ole’ Oprah
*I would love to hear ideas from a male’s point of view, to see the differences and/or similarities…any takers?