A peer who was introduced by a friend not so long ago, subsequently became a friend said that “He considered me his mentor”
Whilst this pleased me no end, it also raised the above question in my mind. Over the past 20 odd years, I have had the opportunity of working with a lot of bright sparks, who have eventually moved on to different organizations, industries or geography.
However it has been a constant source of pride that they have kept in touch with me & vice versa, calling upon when the need to bounce of ideas, thoughts becomes strong.
And so this friend asked me how was I able to manage, keep the connection live and more importantly Did I not feel insecure, it set me thinking, to write down some thoughts that may be useful.
1) I have always accepted the fact that I am not a Star but an actor.
2) I am a Snob & hence prefer to be surrounded with intellectual bandwidth.
3) I avoid comparing responsibilities, accountability, package with peer group.
4) I do not stifle growth by using the personal loyalty card.
5) I definitely keep the professional & personal element separate, becomes easier for decision making.
From an organization perspective it is important to see that the seniors allow exceptional talent to flourish, since if they become insecure & ignore it, the death knell sounds. If not so drastic then it would be a organization based on mediocrity rather then meritocracy.
Do let me have your thoughts.
I write, review, rant, rave, on a variety of personal things. Call it Mindcasting. The written word has been my long time friend – jotting down thoughts based on what I read, heard, saw or recording my own experiences for later reference.
Your thoughts no doubt are valuable and ideal, but I think its bit difficult to implement. ‘Human emotion’ is fluctiferous, surpasses all man made spikes and sometimes results in damages beyond repair.
Sure, however this is my personal experience practiced over the years.
Nice one. I like all the five points. When talking about insecurity and people working in one’s team in an organisation, I would add one more i.e. to let people go. For their personal growth, to follow their dreams etc. there would be instances when they get better opportunities sometimes in the same organisation and at times with a competitor and this is where one should look beyond.
is that what you meant in #4. if so, my bad.
Hi, i’m still quite young (24 yrs old) and am the head of the reservations team in a hotel. I’m in revenue management and hence i was given the responsibility of mentoring a fresh recruit. What i have noticed among a lot of my other peers is that they tend to hold back a lot of information, and do not tend to share or disclose that. This, i believe is very wrong, and no mentor should do that.
On a different note, i completely agree with your second last point. I have never wanted to stop a person’s growth or hinder their career.
And i cant seem to cut out the emotions from my decision making process. I guess that should come with time and some more experience
Hi, Its perfect. We make a lot of mistakes unconsciously. Rarely know where to draw the line . Most of the time we either get carried away by our emotions or our arrogance. I love your second point.