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• Mentor: An experienced and trusted adviser.  Oxford Dictionary
• Mentorship: The activity of giving a younger or less experienced person help and advice over a period of time, especially at work or school.  Dictionary.com
• Mentors are role models of the type of person you want to become. A person you respect who can give you wisdom and guidance without prejudice. Someone who inspires you to greater achievement. Someone who provides a guiding light with words that stick with you over the years. Jeffrey Gitomer
• Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction. John Crosby
• Inspiration,  Networking,  Learning,  Role-models

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Mentors can advise and guide you  

• The reason a great mentor is so effective is that you can learn from someone who has already walked down your path and therefore has tested, practical advice. Pamela Slim
• Better than a thousand days of diligent study is one day with a great teacher. Japanese Proverb
• A good mentor will not only provide you with valuable advice, he or she will also help you deal with the fear and stress involved in growing professionally and making a big change. Pamela Slim
• I not only use all the brains I have, but all I can borrow. Woodrow Wilson
• A single conversation with a wise man is better than ten years of study. Chinese Proverb
• No one lives long enough to learn everything they need to learn starting from scratch. To be successful, we absolutely, positively have to find people who have already paid the price to learn the things that we need to learn to achieve our goals. Brian Tracy
• Advice

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Mentors can inspire you  

• A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself. Oprah Winfrey
• What do mentors give? Wisdom in nuggets. Gold that you remember and use to smooth the path (or find the path) to success. They provide inspiration and guidance when you need it most. Jeffrey Gitomer
• Our chief want is someone who will inspire us to be what we know we could be. Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Inspiration

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Mentors can provide examples of model behaviour to learn from  

• It’s better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you’ll drift in that direction. Warren Buffett
• People seldom improve when they have no other model but themselves to Copy.  Oliver Goldsmith
• Learning

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The end result can be greater success and job satisfaction  

• Getting a mentor could be the smartest career move you ever make. Research from Heidrick & Struggles leadership consultancy shows that people who have mentors are more likely to get promoted than their non- mentored colleagues. What’s more, they report more job satisfaction.  Fiona Sandiford
• Success

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Here are some qualities to look for in a mentor  

• The best qualifier for a mentor is that “they have what you want.” Regardless of industry, position, or sex, my greatest mentors have demonstrated the behavior, attitude and success that I wanted for myself.  Rhea Cook
• When it comes to finding a good one make sure you respect them and their wisdom. I personally look for people that have been there done that. There is more knowledge from people that have experience rather than those that just talk the talk. Cheryl Hill
• Success is not the only important criteria. You need to respect their value system, too. Emma Brown
• Having a mentor from a different industry opens your mind to different ways of looking at problems. It also introduces you to people you wouldn’t normally deal with.  Emma Brown
• A mentoring relationship is just that, a relationship. You must truly enjoy each other’s company if it is to last. If you put each other at ease and make each other laugh, that will make your time together energizing and engaging.  Pamela Slim

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Find a mentor by being where the action is  

• Look for someone that has done what you want to accomplish, maybe not on the grandest scale but who has consistently succeeded with innumerable challenges. Look for this person in a company similar to yours that is not a competitor. Look in professional organizations where people with your similar goals meet to share ideas and grow. But also look in non- traditional places. You may find them at your church, book group, local pool or gym. Mary Lee Gannon
• Finding a great mentor happens by being where the action is. Great mentors are great because they are in action, working and making mistakes, fixing mistakes, learning and doing better. So you have to be where they are. I’ve volunteered to be in groups and committees and worked for free, just to be close enough to the guru so I can learn from them and soak up all they have to teach.  Ivana Taylor
• The best way to find a mentor is to put yourself out there. Get in front of people you want to be associated with and take the first step in the relationship by approaching them.  Jason Kirby
• It is not as much about finding a great mentor as it is staying in touch with one. Most of us have already met someone in our lives that inspires us to greatness, maybe a high school teacher or coach, our first boss, or a family friend. Our job is to stay in touch with these people, keep them in our lives so that we can continue to learn from their wisdom and benefit from their guidance as we grow. Kirsten Mahoney
• Volunteering is one way to get in front of the right people. Kirsty Dunphey
• Action

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Finding a mentor requires a healthy dose of courage, humility and gratitude  

• Finding a great mentor requires the cultivation of three qualities: Courage, Humility, and Gratitude. It is easy to locate inspiring people that we look up to and wish to emulate. But the willingness to ask for help – which takes both courage and humility – sets those who actually find great mentors apart from the rest. And gratitude for what is received is the quality that ensures the success of the mentor- mentee relationship. Shannon Cutts
• Courage,  Humility,  Gratitude

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The ideal is to find more than one mentor if you can  

• I have found that no single person can ever been all things to a mentee because everyone is different. My advice is to find a few people (3 or 4) who can serve as a sounding board and role model. The point of having a mentor is to allow you to find your inner voice more easily—not to copy what that other person would do. When you have several opinions, the correct option/path/choice is more likely to surface.  Micha Star Liberty  

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Ways to approach a mentor  

• To kick off a mentoring relationship, ask for advice once, then see how it goes. This is where the organic process comes in.  A natural mentor will be someone who willingly shares advice and information.  Don’t rush into things. Just ask for advice once and if they seem open, keep the dialogue going.  Pamela Slim
• Do not be afraid to approach and ask for someone’s help. But be committed to be totally honest, open to new ideas, and time sensitive. Their reward is often simply seeing you grow. Their time is precious; use it wisely, and find ways to give back something. David Horner
• One great way, I have found recently, to finding a great mentor , is to call or email the people you admire in your field and ask to interview them for some article or blog you are writing or some book project you are making or even just because you admire them, and in the process, you get to share your own ideas, expertise, confidence, humility and thirst for learning, which makes them want to show you more of their wisdom. Kundan Chhabra

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Have the courage to ask  

• Have the courage to ask. People love it, they feel they’re leaving a legacy.  Stephen Langton
• Don’t be afraid to ask a seasoned professional for help. It’s amazing how many successful business professionals want to help if you just ASK for help. Don’t be afraid… Ask a stranger.  Andrew Fehlman
• Ask for what you want

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Be positive and approachable and mentors may even approach you  

• Having a positive attitude can attract a mentor and sometimes they’ll offer their help to you themselves. Kirsty Dunphey
• Some of my most helpful mentors are people who found me. Allow yourself to be approachable, coach- able, and grateful for the investment. Tell others that you are hoping to find a mentor and when someone offers “mentoring” receive it graciously. Kelly Wilson
• Positivity,  Optimism

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Create reciprocity in the relationship  

• Enduring mentoring relationships have mutual benefit built into them. Your mentor may have years of experience in his or her field, but you also must bring something to the table.  Perhaps they are less familiar with technology so you can help them build a website.  Whatever you do, make sure they are not the only ones offering support and advice.  Pamela Slim
• People are much more inclined to help you long-term if they are getting something valuable in return. What works better for me is to collaborate with someone who has the skills and knowledge I need and wants to learn a little bit from me, too. Betsy Talbot
• Some of the best mentors are ones that I can offer something to. I know that mentoring is not supposed to be about what the mentor gets out of it, however, it is a way for the mentor to feel value for themselves and make you more valuable overall. Monica Tombers
• Think win-win

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What’s in it for your mentor?  

• Why do they do it? Why do mentors take pleasure in helping you? They may be at a point in their career where they’re ready to “give back.” Often your mentor has been helped by their mentor, and they are returning the favor to the world. They want to give help — it’s how you receive it that will determine whether the relationship flourishes. Jeffrey Gitomer

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Always express your gratitude  

• Don’t ever forget to acknowledge and thank your mentor for his guidance and advice. Lavish gifts or hollow praise are not necessary.  Good, old fashioned heartfelt thanks in the form of a handwritten note or sincere comment work the best.  Let him know what his advice meant to you and how it changed the course of your life.  Pamela Slim
• Gratitude

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Create an informal board of advisers  

• I have a whole committee of heroes and heroines who comprise my committee of advisors. Whenever I feel stumped, I close my eyes and imagine my Board of Advisors sitting around my own personal Round Table. I’ve varied them through the years, but they are my favorite spiritual leaders, inventors, social change leaders, psychologists, presidents, entertainers, simple/down- to- earth folks, etc. Some are living, some are long dead; some famous, some not. I ask them what they’d do in this situation, and I always get the answers I need. Nancy Irwin

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An alternative to finding a mentor is to invest in the advice of an expert…  

• Get the help you need. Invest in a professional.  Just an hour of an expert’s time could help you create quantum leaps.  A bit of outside acumen = leaps and bounds for you.  Danielle LaPorte
• Expertise

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… or you can meet up regularly with a group of your peers…  

• I have a group of six peer girlfriends who catch up monthly. We’re all in different industries — one owns a hairdressing salon, another’s a life coach, another runs a design company.  We bounce ideas off each other.  Kirsty Dunphey

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…or, at the very least, consciously ask for advice from those close to you  

• I don’t have a mentor in the strict definition. I take as much advice and inspiration as I can from the people I am close to. Natalie Massenet  

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Find a mentor by being a mentor yourself  

• I have discovered that those who are most successful; financially, emotionally and spiritually are the most likely to want to help others excel. Remember, mentoring is not just about you finding people to help you up the ladder. It is an eco-system, and you need to also look for others whom you can mentor and extend a boost. Look for ways to be a mentor and you will find others will be most willing to be your mentor. Those who are selfish have a hard time getting help. Those who are giving by nature seem to get all the opportunities. Thom Singer
• Perhaps the best way to create a force field of attraction for a mentor is to be one yourself. Share what you know with others, and help them to learn and grow.  Your ideal mentor will be watching you too and may just approach you first.  Pamela Slim

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The truth is that being a mentor can be deeply fulfilling  

• No one learns as much about a subject as one who is forced to teach it. Peter F. Drucker
• Unless we think of others and do something for them, we miss one of the greatest sources of happiness. Ray Lyman Wilbur
• What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us. What we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal. Albert Pine
• Fulfilment

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