How Mentors Have Shaped My Career
Lessons in Growth, Leadership, and Success
Hello Everyone!
Throughout my career, I’ve had some amazing mentors. They’ve been great guides and have helped me avoid potential pitfalls, make decisions and have encouraged me to grow.
This week, I’d like to reflect on the impact that some of these mentos have had on my professional journey.
Here goes….
Foundation Building
When I started my very first job at The Boston Consulting Group, I was incredibly lucky to have a mentor who not only understood the challenges of entering a new industry but also the time and effort needed for a fresh graduate to get to grips with the nuts and bolts of management consulting.
He was my very first Manager and he taught me the importance of getting the fundamentals right. He made sure I took some time out to take up trainings and workshops to understand the ins and outs of management consulting, from analytical skills to how presentations ought to be delivered.
His support have me the confidence to thrive in an intense environment and raise concerns whenever things seemed to fall out of alignment. I guess having someone who genuinely seemed to want me to succeed made a huge difference in those early days.
Navigating Office Politics
Years passed and I moved to another company. It was a private-equity owned tech company and, given that my role sat in the middle of two different functions, I encountered office politics on a level that I had not envisaged at all.
At that point, I got introduced to a colleague who was amazing at handling such situations with grace. He taught me that success was as much about building relationships as it was about the work itself.
He was great at keeping things in perspective. I remember once that I had had an intense argument with a difficult coworker and was sitting at my desk, frustrated. He came up to me and gave me this advice: “All that matters is your long term goal. You can react now but ask yourself if that would help or hurt that goal of yours. The rest doesn’t matter at all.”
It completely shifted my way of thinking and taught me to focus on objectives. Immediate frustrations are often not worth fretting over.
Leadership Skills
One major transition in my career was moving into a leadership role. I had gained a few years of experience as an individual contributor at that point but, with the new responsibilities, I felt overwhelmed.
At that point, another one of my mentors stepped in. She helped me come to terms with the nuances that leadership roles bring, from acknowledging the need to delegate effectively to realising the importance of constructive feedback.
She once sat me down and told me, “Try your best to not come across as intimidating because people remember how you made them feel”. This was great advice that has stayed with me ever since.
Continuing Encouragement
Turning to mentors, both old and new, is something I do even now when I come across unfamiliar challenges.
One of them has become more like a friend and he keeps on reminding me to keep on reinventing myself and to push boundaries. Whenever I feel the urge to settle, I often think about what he keeps telling me.
All in all, I think mentors have played a key role in every phase of my career and continue to do so. Their impact has shaped not only how my professional journey has shaped up but also how I am as a person.
Great post on the importance and role mentors can have for all of us - if we are open to them. I've also been very lucky to have had some excellent mentors throughout my career but as time moves along, I also now find myself turning to younger people to mentor me on areas of business that they know so much more about. Mentors do not have to be older - just more knowledgeable and wiser.
You are fortunate to have had exceptional mentors who guided you along the way. What's even more admirable is your willingness to acknowledge their influence and integrate their valuable advice into your life.