The Invisible Mentor

What is an Invisible Mentor, and Why Should Anyone Care?

After chewing, swallowing and digesting the paper “Invisible Mentor: Communication Theory and Lilian Katz” by Professor Karen L. Peterson from Washington State University, the book The Mentor’s Spirit by Marsha Sinetar, and combining them with my experiences, here is what I decided:

Invisible Mentors are unique leaders we can learn things from by observing them from a distance by studying their works. This means consuming the books they have written (also books written about them), the presentations, speeches, and interviews they have given and studying and reflecting on any works of art, ideas, tools and models they developed/created.

The Invisible Mentor concept works best for self-learners who are disciplined, self-directed and in control of their lives. Or it could work equally well for those who aspire to, and are serious about having those traits. The concept can be compared to the Board of Directors in an organization. The same way a company elects people to assume roles as Board of Directors, the same way anyone can elect a Personal Board of Invisible Mentors, but in this instance, the company is You Inc.

After discovering the importance of invisible mentors, The Invisible Mentor Blog was born.

How The Invisible Mentor Works

Ms. Sinetar uses the term mentor spirit in the same context that we use the invisible mentor. 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.

For  Invisible Mentors to make a difference in your life, information and resources by and about them have 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

To learn from Invisible Mentors and use them as role models, they have to possess many of the traits below:

• 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
• Life lover and enthusiast
• People lover
• Trailblazer

Why Invisible Mentors Are Important

In the absence of traditional mentors, Invisible Mentors are great substitutes, and the perfect complement to any mentoring relationship. They allow professionals to tap into their inner genius and promote a personal growth regiment, introduce rigor to their thinking, increase discipline, strengthen the ability to communicate and create a well-fed mind. Consistently reading the right books, builds intellectual and verbal power; and listening to the right interviews and speeches heighten focus and awareness, while increasing knowledge. Digesting the words of great thinkers provides a rich minefield for great ideas worth exploring. Invisible mentors help to accelerate your learning goals.

Invisible Mentors help you to:

• Mentor yourself
• Be your best selves
• Flourish as fully integrating people
• Lead you to your authentic self and your deepest and most intimate truths
• Liberate your spirit
• Be the person you were born to be
• Amplify your voice
• Figure out your own solutions