What the Best Mentors Do

There are lots of ways to be a good mentor, but there are a few common principles that the best mentors share. One principle is putting the relationship before the mentorship. No amount of mentorship training outweighs the value of an authentic connection between mentor and mentee. Secondly, focus on developing your mentee’s character and not just their job skills. Invest in your mentee’s self-awareness, empathy, and capacity for respect. The next practice of good mentors is sharing their optimism much more than their cynicism. If your mentee shares an idea that seems unrealistic, try the 24 x 3 rule: spend 24 seconds, 24 minutes, or a day thinking about all the reasons that the idea is good before you criticize any aspect of it. Finally, be more loyal to your mentee than you are to your company. If your mentee’s passions and skills are not a good fit for their job, or if your company has limited opportunities for your mentee to move up, you should help them move on. At its highest level, mentorship means committing to helping other become fuller versions of themselves.