The conversation about the value of mentors continues to be valid. Students, young employees and emerging leaders benefit from good mentoring. There is an implicit and important kind of maturation that only happens in the context of what we have been calling mentoring relationships. I have benefited immeasurably from giving and receiving mentoring conversations. I owe a debt of gratitude to my old mentors.
The old model was related predominantly on explicit grooming of next gen leaders. These days, mentoring is more about conversations and less about the formality and continuity of roles. We might get to the point where we talk about mentoring quality conversations instead of mentors and mentees. If we do, it might make these conversations more accessible and the whole point of mentoring might scale as it needs to.
