Building Compassionate Bonds Through Mentorship

January is National Mentoring Month, so it’s an opportune time to discuss why I believe a mentor is one of the most crucial relationships at any stage of our personal or professional journeys.

Mentoring has a long and interesting history. The term originated with Homer creating the character Mentor, who was placed in charge of teaching Odysseus’ son while Odysseus went off to fight in the Trojan War. Our ability to be both mentee and mentor is enriching and critical. These relationships not only help us grow but also feel less alone as we take on what some days seem like insurmountable challenges in life and work.

Mentors provide safe spaces to allow us to be seen, heard, and appreciated – and also pushed! It’s a beautiful symbiosis that is equal parts compassionate fellow traveler on the road of life and expectant high-achieving coach on the field of play. Our ability to recognize that we don’t know everything and be willing to place ourselves in a mentor’s trusted hands vulnerably makes the difference between choosing tepid mediocrity for our lives or pushing into greater realms of our growth and development.

I once met a man who refrained from joining a professional peer advisory board group. He said simply that he “didn’t like people telling him what to do.” I admired his ability to speak frankly, but also felt sorry that he would limit himself to his own guidance and expect his company to benefit solely from that.

I get it; it’s tough as a professional to put ourselves in the seat opposite someone else and hear them tell us what we don’t know…or should know! Being humble is a great start to allowing the lessons of a fellow traveler to influence our success. And our ability to help others up and along their journeys by being a mentor keeps the goodness rolling forward in the best of ways.

I’ve had several mentors in my life; two have been especially critical in helping me grow personally and professionally. My brother, Byron, taught me many lessons that were critical to my development as an entrepreneur and business professional. He was able to tie present situations to experiences related to his own growth. He also showed me how obstacles created opportunities. He helped me mine my own determination to push through tough times into success and gave me room to run with things for which I was naturally suited.

My friend and spiritual director Lynn Anderson was another mentor who helped me cultivate my faith and stood beside me during times of great transition in my life. The lessons she taught me, not just by telling but also by showing, helped me go deeper into my own spirituality and cultivate a connection with the Divine that I perpetuate today.

I’ve seen several mentions in the media recently about isolation and loneliness at work, and in life in general. The mentor relationship can counter that. It creates warm bonds of humanity that are critical not just to growth but also to discovering light when we find ourselves in a dark corner.

My advice: take time today to consider the impact of mentors you’ve had in your life, and how you can be both mentor and mentee to help grow compassionate bonds with our fellow humans.

Be brave and brilliant today!