Why Do I Need a Mentor?

In today's competitive landscape a mentoring relationship can give you an edge that differentiates you from your peers and/or your competition. You may be ready to make a career change or advance in your present career but something is holding you back. Wouldn't you benefit from a relationship with someone who may provide knowledge, insight, support, guidance, and open doors for you? It may surprise you that some of the world's most rich and famous had mentoring relationships to help them in their quest for excellence. Here are just a few famous mentoring relationships:

• Brian Mulroney (former Prime Minister of Canada) mentor to Karl Péladeau (Quebecor CEO)
• Marc Andreessen (multi-millionaire founder of Mosaic and Netscape) mentor to Mark Zuckerberg (billionaire founder of Facebook)
• Warren Buffet (billionaire financier) mentor to Donald Graham (publisher, Washington Post) and Michael Lee-Chin (CEO, AIC)
• Bobby Orr (Hall of Fame hockey player) mentor to Dr. Robert Thirsk (astronaut, physician, engineer, scientist)
• Ingmar Bergman mentor to Woody Allen
• Joe Weider mentor to Arnold Schwarzenegger
• Richard Burton mentor to Sir Anthony Hopkins

Having a mentor can provide you with many advantages. "Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction." Source: John Crosby. A mentor can help to shorten your learning curve, open your mind to new ideas and possibilities, identify opportunities and advise on how to promote yourself. If you select a mentor who works at the same company as you do, they can provide invaluable insider information on how to navigate the company politics and achieve your goals. Mentoring is not just a great idea, it is a proven concept:

• Employees who received mentoring were promoted FIVE times more often than people who didn't have mentors. Source: Sun Microsystems
• 75% of executives point to mentoring as playing key roles in their careers. Source: ASTD
• 95% of mentoring participants said the experience motivated them to do their very best. Source: The War for Talent
• 96% of executives say mentoring is an important development tool. Source: Account Temps
• 44% of CEOs list mentoring programs as one of the three most effective strategies to enhance women's advancement to senior management. Source: Dr. Belle Ragins for Catalyst

"A lot of people have gone further than they thought they could because someone else thought they could." Source: Unknown. Join MentorCity™ and take the first step towards achieving your goals and dreams.

Learn more about mentoring.