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3 Tips to Help You Find the Perfect Mentor

A solid mentor is one of the three key people you should have in your network! Your mentor can offer a wealth of wisdom and experience, as well as learning opportunities from their own successes and failures. And whether you carry one wise counselor with you throughout your career, or work with several along the way, one thing is sure: Your boss will not always make the best mentor. Perhaps your boss is too busy, or you don’t click personally, or you need the perspective of someone more distant from your day-to-day. Fortunately, you have options to find the perfect non-boss mentor:

Clarify your goals. What do you hope to gain from the experience, at least in the short-term? Knowing your goal will help you connect with the right advisor. If you want to learn new skills, connect with an industry innovator. If you want to build executive presence, connect with a leader whose attitude and attire is consistently top-notch. And if you want to become a better manager, connect with someone whose people and problem-solving skills you admire.
Explore your network. Do you already know someone who would make a great mentor? If no one in your network jumps out as an organic fit, you might look to a leader in another department at your current organization; soft skills translate to any department or industry. You could also check with past employers; your current boss might not be the best choice, but a former boss could be perfect, and could keep you on the radar of your prior organization (which is always a good thing). And if you’re still looking after all that, do you have a friend or colleague in your industry who could connect you with a good match?
Consider a nontraditional choice. Who says your mentor has to be in your industry? Of course useful applications can be drawn from mentors in your industry or a parallel industry, but since you can connect with multiple mentors across your career, consider the value in an “outsider’s” perspective. What knowledge and skills have they learned on their unique journey? How could their value be different from an industry mentor’s?

Everyone can benefit from a good coach. By choosing the right mentor, you can use their skills and direction to help steer your career—even become a mentor yourself!

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