ASK THE COACH
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The Importance of Mentors
By Dr. Ray Angelini
The Saratogian
November 4, 2003
Dear Dr. Ray,
I have heard from many of my senior business associates how their careers were positively influenced by various mentors they have encountered along the way. What, in your opinion, makes the mentoring relationship so important?
— C.R. in Wilton
Dear C.R.,
The dictionary defines the word mentor as "a wise and trusted counselor or teacher." Another common definition is a "coach." In my experience, very few people experience great success without a personal mentor or coach.
In their book, The One-Minute Millionaire, Mark Victor Hanson and Robert Allen discuss three benefits of having a mentor:
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Mentors give perspective.
Most of us are too close to our careers and businesses to view them objectively. It is very easy for us to get caught up in the adrenaline and, often, confusion of our given situation.
A mentor or coach is more detached and is usually more able to be objective. As Hanson and Allen state, "Experience plus time equal wisdom."
A good mentor can offer us the wisdom of greater life experience.
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Mentors make us proficient.
Someone once said that the value of education lies in helping us recognize what we don't know. A mentor can help us fill in the gaps between what we know and what we don't know.
In learning a new task, or even in rethinking an old one, a coach can simplify things by guiding us more easily and proficiently through the process.
A mentor can be a tremendous time-saver versus having to learn things through repeated trial and error. A mentor also can provide us with a shortcut and spare us from unnecessary emotional pain as well as lost time and money.
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Mentors teach us patience.
In learning any new task, there is a learning curve. A good coach can dramatically reduce this curve and, along the way, teach us the valuable lesson of patience during our struggle to achieve mastery.
If you want to achieve success more quickly, find yourself a good mentor or coach. All of the most successful people I know of have had mentors, and readily admit they would not be nearly as successful without them.
We cannot create synergy on our own — it takes at least two. Remember the ancient Chinese proverb, "A simple conversation across the table with a wise man is worth a month's study of books."
We are only as powerful and successful as our mentors. Don't miss out on this most important cornerstone of success.
