The Invisible Mentor

Archive for May 13th, 2010

I attended a Career Studio hosted by the Canadian Women In Communications where I gleaned some important insights that I’d like to share with you. Senior level women in the communications industry shared their experiences, and the information presented is not isolated to that  industry.

There were four panelists: Fariba Anderson (VP Lottery IT, Ontario Lottery Gaming Corporation), Heather Gordon (VP, Finance, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research), Joan Jenkinson (Director of Independent Productions/Executive Producer for S-VOX), Julie Osborne (Deputy Publisher, Maclean’s Magazine) and moderator Stephanie MacKendrick (President, Canadian Women in Communications).

While the women were sharing, my mind was going a mile a minute processing what they were saying while still paying attention. Here are the key takeaways from the event.

• Take risks and stretch yourself
• Surround yourself with people who can make things happen
• If you are in a job you hate, or perceive to be a dead end, instead of just focusing on that job, look around you within the organization to see what’s going on on other parts, and talk to co-workers to identify if there is a better spot in the company for you
• Plan your career but be open to opportunities
• Create opportunities for yourself
• Know yourself, your strengths and weaknesses and find people whose skills complement yours
• Learn while doing and grow into the role
• It’s not what you do, it’s who you do it with
• Be prepared to fail, to success
• Speak up and be heard

These highly accomplished women had  formal or informal mentors, as well as trusted advisers. The point is that they didn’t go it alone and neither should you. One panelist described what she called “mentors in moments,” the people who help you to see your way more clearly.

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 left side) by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit and you can grab a copy by clicking here.

Photo Credit: Google via Apture