How to Get Mentors to Stay Faithful?

On three recent phone calls with people I care about, each asked how to get mentors to stay interested in them. I suggested they get a mentor since mentors could help pull each three of them up to a higher level. They had been getting by yet not really flourishing in their careers.

If these friends could gathered their own brain trust of mentors, the benefits are galore: spot-on advice at career inflection points, doors opened to potential new employers, and tales from the mentor’s own career showing even successful people struggle. It’s compassionate leadership.

The trick is convincing a busy person to invest in you. The mentor wants it to be a fulfilling journey that makes her feel like the time paid off, that her advice led to progress, and that she enjoys the ride too. It’s flattering for her to dispense her advice yet she wants to give it to someone who’s gracious — and also interested in the mentor’s well-being too. To be trite, it goes both ways.

So thinking back on a few amazingly kind mentors in my life, how can we keep mentors on our side? How can mentors keep caring about us both as people and professionals?

The junior partner keeping the connection warm

The onus is on the less senior mentor to keep the connection alive. Like it or not, many mentors are so busy, or…