Member Article

My mentor and me

For a long, long time, I never appreciated the worth of a Mentor. I was naive and headstrong so when someone suggested it to me I brushed it off without much of a thought. Arrogantly perhaps…

I can think now of many times throughout my career where a Mentor would have been so helpful just to ask what they thought about a situation or circumstance, sharing contacts or market information, to learn from their experience and knowledge built up over long periods of time filled with their own mistakes and life lessons, or just reigniting some tacit knowledge… sounds obvious really.

So why don’t more people do it?

Who would find it hard to believe that there isn’t a pool of budding entrepreneurs looking to be a Mentee? There is definitely a need so it’s up to Directors, Partners and Managers step up.

I meet my Mentor every 90 days on neutral grounds in London (for us both to be as focused as possible) and for the whole working day; there are no business calls or emails allowed, it’s purely a discussion about ideas and previous achievements, we talk about things we could do differently or processes we’re constantly looking to improve upon… not one meeting goes by where I don’t have a “Eureka!” moment. It clears and re-organises my mind of all the things that get jumbled up in the stresses of building and running a business. It was actually on the way back from one of these meetings that I got inspiration for the logo and ethos behind my business… (See the Drinking Lions all along the embankment)

I wouldn’t trade these sessions for any of the most expensive business degrees or courses in the world, they are exponentially more valuable for both me and my Mentor.

So if you think you would like to Mentor an entrepreneur in your area, please do! If you don’t know where to find a Mentee then register your details with Inde Recruitment, we will be hosting a free network portfolio to make things easier to set up.

Thanks for reading.

Watch this space, www.inderecruitment.co.uk launching soon.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Jack Thomas .