The Invisible Mentor

I have been buried deep in The Mentor’s Spirit by Marsha Sinetar as I work on evolving The Invisible Mentor concept. While reading, I came across some great ideas that I’d like to share with you. Ms. Sinetar uses the term mentor spirit in the same context that I use the invisible mentor. My refined definition of an “invisible mentor” is a unique leader we can learn things from through their books, presentations, interviews, speeches and other information products.

Mentor spirit is that “productive, liberating power that heartens us to develop a bit of poetry in our self-leadership and grow into our best selves, who we were born to be…the almost anything that deepens  our sense of the sacred or our understanding or transmits a kind of gladness about life itself.” Mentor spirit could be a book, ideas, art, nature and so on.

If you are interested in getting mentored, Sinetar suggests you do the following:

1. Participate with organizations that mentor, and learn from them
2. Don’t crowd those you admire in a starstruck or exploitative manner
3. Find formal groups legitimately chartered to provide professional support

Traits of Great Mentors

• People lover
• Empathetic and non-judgmental
• Authentic
• Life lover
• Have sound judgment
• Think independently and divergently
• Have definite purpose
• Have good humor
• Reliable
• Honorable
• Set boundaries for self and others

Why Invisible Mentors (Mentor Spirits) Are Important

• People who we never meet can mentor and influence us
• Can lead us to our deepest most intimate truths
• Productive liberating spirit that allows us to be the people we were born to be
• Help us to amplify our internal voice
• We can learn from them how to live and thrive

Miscellaneous Great Ideas

• Productive mentors insist that their proteges become autonomous
• Learning continuously evaporates fear of change

How can you use this information? What do you have to add to the conversation? Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

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Related posts:

1. 7 Must-Have Characteristics of Great Mentors
2. Summary of A Technique for Producing Great Ideas by James Webb Young
3. Could Nature Be Your Mentor?
4. How to Choose Invisible Mentors
5. Who Are Your 5 Invisible Mentors and Why?

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