How to Find an Amazing Mentor?

We Climb Together.

We become smarter. We can better point ourselves in a better direction. We have an advisor to help get us out of tough situations. We have a cheerleader on call. We have someone passing us opportunities. So many reasons to count on having mentors — two to five people who are invested in you.

Yet how can we create those mentoring relationships, especially in business cultures (like Bogota,Tokyo, or Jakarta) where mentorship isn’t that common? How to get a mentor who will coach us from zero to hero?

Three promising sources come to mind: the past, the present, and the future.

The Past: Universities, Past Employers, and Smiling Faces

• Those who showed curiosity in us during university/college days, especially professors, can become really solid mentors. They already invested in you by teaching you, so they will remain curious how you turned out. Their networks of former students could also be helpful. Example: my cousin got his first job through an e-mail intro from his University of Wisconsin professor to his former student, too.
• Former bosses who cared about us. They saw something they liked about us, and it’ll give them satisfaction to further support our careers. As a bonus. they’re probably in our field and will have valuable networks. Good if you can share your own contacts with her/him…