The Invisible Mentor

How to Choose Invisible Mentors

May 13th, 2009 |

An important aspect of professional success involves participating in mentoring programs. And now more than ever, employees need mentors to guide and advise them as they navigate flattened corporate structures. In the absence of, and as a complement to traditional mentors, professionals can mentor themselves, utilizing Invisible Mentors, in the form of books by and about successful people as well as interviews with successful people. An invisible mentor is a unique leader (role model) you can learn things from by observing them from a distance.

Shift Your Mindset Then The Impossible Becomes Possible

To get invisible mentoring from a book, it has to have many of the elements below:

Provokes thought
Provides a deeper level of understanding and heightened awareness
Ignites passion
Awakens deep-seated emotions
Provides practical wisdom
Chronicles events for strategic guidance
Provides formulas and intellectual frameworks to use
Be about a change maker
Solves everyday problems
Shifts the reader’s mindset

Invisible Mentor interviews work best when interviewees are:

Willing to share wisdom, knowledge and experiences
Old enough to have learned important life lessons
Accomplished
Enlightened and understand that the world is bigger than them
Inspiring
Willing to help others succeed
Engaging
Well-read
Articulate
Problem solvers
Change makers
Passionate
Easy to understand

The easiest way to choose Invisible Mentors or a Personal Board of Invisible Mentors is to ask colleagues, family and friends for suggestions and recommendations for books to read and interviews to listen to. Ensure that the list is diverse, containing books that are off the beaten track and interviewees who are unusual suspects. Seek divergent views to stand apart from the crowd. You can find suggestions on The Mentors‘ and Library pages.

Make a list of 10 Invisible Mentors

Photo Credits: Avil Beckford