Mentoring Makes Leaders

A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself. Who allows you to see the higher part of yourself when sometimes it becomes hidden to your own view. Oprah Winfrey

All around us right now there are examples of women who have found their voices. Some voices are being heard after a long period of painful silence. Some voices are being heard due to sheer (and fearless) exasperation. Countless voices are rising up because they have been empowered by the women (and men) around them who have created an environment in which they feel encouraged and liberated to express themselves.

This – as Oprah so eloquently stated – is the power of mentorship. A mentoring pair is a microcosm of the global #metoo, #timesup paradigm shift. Within the safe and nurturing alliance of a mentor/mentee partnership, dreams can be shared. Ambitions can be encouraged. Energy can be directed. Hopes can be ignited. Confidence can be bolstered or restored.

Each mentoring experience is as unique as the two people who comprise it. A mentee recently shared that her experience led to a new job. She had been feeling stuck and she asked her mentor for advice. The mentor opened doors to three job interviews, an offer and a salary negotiation. “I feel that we are a match made in heaven!” is how the mentee described the experience from her new position.

Another woman had a mentor who served as a sounding board and together the two brainstormed the best approach for the mentee to approach her boss and ask for a new role and a raise.

Some mentor/mentee partners simply vent, share ideas, drink coffee (or wine), and solve the world’s problems in conversation. And many a mentor tells me that they get as much or more from the mentoring experience as their mentee. As Hill Holliday’s SVP of Communications Tracy Brady wrote in a recent op-ed, “The beauty of 2018 is that now more than ever, younger generations have as much to offer as their seasoned counterparts. Many companies have implemented ‘reverse mentoring,’ where digitally native Gen Z helps older staffers navigate social media platforms, digital trends, or office tools like Slack.” (You can read Tracy’s entire piece here.)

She Runs It is proud to match and empower more than 350 mentoring pairs across our New York and Chicago membership every year. Whoever you are, you have something incredibly valuable to share with another woman. And something equally valuable to gain.