“You can’t treat mentoring as working with a younger version of you.”
I said this last week in response to an excellent question from Erica Wexler MSOD, Change Facilitator about — you guessed it — mentoring.
I’ve been in a few mentoring relationships where my mentor clearly thought I should just live their life, without the mistakes they made. It wasn’t as much about asking me about my goals, as it was about trying to guide me towards theirs. Now, I believe they had *no idea* they were doing this. To them, this was mentoring.
To me, it was weird.
Different people are different. We have different experiences, bodies, worldviews, dreams, talents, families… Different people are different.
Mentoring is beautiful and we need generational wisdom to be imparted — but we need wisdom, not dictation.
If you’re a mentor, double check you’re serving the person in front of you and not the person you wish they would be. If you’re a mentee, make sure you feel you can ask questions and feel heard when you share.
What’s your experience with mentors?
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