The Invisible Mentor

Archive for October, 2009

In the article “Networking Your Way to the Boardroom,” Liz O’Donnell cites Nancy Mellard, executive vice president and general counsel for the Employee Services Division of CBIZ, as saying:

“It’s not just about going to a networking event; it’s about truly engaging people in your story… Attending a networking event is not enough. You must follow up after the event. Women must approach a networking event like they would approach closing a sale. Networking and telling your story are the two most critical tools for professional women today. The failure to effectively use these two tools is the gap in women on advisory boards. There are thousands of competent women who are not utilizing the correct tools to place themselves on these boards.”

From the above, the pieces that caught my attention are closing a sale, and networking and telling your story are the two most critical tools. As an introvert, networking events are not my cup of tea, though I force myself to attend them. When I attend an event my intent is to meet two new people and I make sure that I achieve my goal. To some people that’s low, but for me, it’s manageable and I have to be careful not to drain myself. If I meet more people that’s great, but I do not go out of my way to do so. I have a hard time transitioning into conversations especially when there are people who monopolize the conversation. What are your thoughts?

Now that I have read the article I have been thinking about my story because I have recently changed what I do for a living. My story would be something like this, “I am Chief Invisible Mentor, and I help people to mentor themselves and unleash their best selves, through The Invisible Mentor Blog by providing relevant information.” It needs work, but what do you think? What is you story? How do you follow-up after a networking event? What do you think of the article? Let’s keep the conversation going, please comment.

When was the last time you shook things up? We like comfortable and contentment, which sometimes get us into a rut. I feel like I am in a bit of a rut so I am ready to shake things up, are you on board? Shaking things up does not have to be radical, it can simply mean doing things differently. How can you shake things up at work? What process can you do differently?

James Webb Young in his book A Technique for Producing Great Ideas says that:

An idea is a new combination of old elements

The capacity to combine old elements into something new is dependent on the ability to see relationships

Here is what I am going to do, it may be simple for some folks but right now I do not have a clue how to do it. I am going to convert a slideshow to a YouTube video and then embed it into a PowerPoint Presentation. I will let you know how it turns out. What are two or more old elements that you can combine to get something new? What are you going to do a bit differently? Or what are you going to do that is new to you? Let us keep the conversation going, please leave me a comment.

Related Post

Summary of A Technique for Producing Great Ideas

Are you looking for a mentor? How about you mentor someone instead? You may be thinking that you are not mentor material, but you will do just fine. We all know things that others don’t.  To get the mentoring process started, think about the following questions.

1. What kind of people would you like to mentor?
2. What advice would you give to someone just starting out in the field?
3. What’s a typical day like for you?
4. What are some challenges that you face daily, and how do you resolve them?
5. What lessons did you learn from resolving the challenges?
6. What are five life lessons that you have learned so far that you can pass on to others?
7. What burning issues or ideas drive your life?
8. What legacy would you like to leave behind?
9. In what ways could you enhance the lives of future generation?
10. What value could you add to a mentoring relationship?

This is a great start for you to get going on a mentoring relationship, and keep in mind the traits of great mentors in yesterday’s post Great Ideas from the Mentor’s Spirit.

Related Post

What does Mentoring Mean?

7 Must-Have Characteristics of Great Mentors

Related articles

• Adventures in Learning: DIY Mentoring Program, Episode Two (theinvisiblementor.com)
• Create Your Board of Mentors – January is National Mentoring Month (theinvisiblementor.com)

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.

Book links are affiliate links.

Do you know how to solve your own problems? You have been asked by the new management team to look at the feasibility of re-introducing a product, which failed five years ago, what steps do you take before you report back to them in two months?

I am experimenting with the way I present information, so I am posting a previous post but in a different format. Please let me know which format you prefer. How can you use the information in the presentation to solve the challenge outlined above? Are the steps given, detailed enough for you to follow them?

Now let’s re-frame the problem slightly, the management team has asked you to re-introduce a product, which failed five years ago. You have been given six months to launch the product. Using the Reverse Problem Solving Technique, how do you proceed? Let’s keep the conversation going, what are your thoughts?

Related Post

Technique for Producing Great Ideas

How to Problem Solve

Reverse Problem Solving

Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

The Art of Invention

Creative Problem Solving

How to Read to Problem Solve