So, how can you find a great mentor? Some of the answers surfaced today at Cisco Partner Velocity in Paris, where entrepreneur Marc Lewis offered 10 rules for finding a great mentor. Alas, The VAR Guy only caught nine of the rules. Here they are:
1, Your mentor must have no ego
2. Your mentor cannot be a relative
3. Your mentor should not gain financial benefit from your relationship
4. You must be willing to share your most intimate thoughts with your mentor
5. Your mentor must not impart wisdom where they lack experience
6. Your mentor should allow you to challenge their wisdom
7. Your mentor should encourage you to challenge their advice
8. You should acknowledge that your mentor’s wisdom is finite
9, You should be willing to break off the mentor relationship
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This is a great list of positive mentor traits. Where should one go to find a person like this? In my experience, point 1 and 6 were difficult for most to overcome.
Benbree: Most of The VAR Guy’s mentors over the past 20 years were people with whom he worked, breaking one of the rules offered by Lewis (though The VAR Guy forgot to mention that earlier).
The VAR Guy usually finds inspiration by attending conferences and hanging out with smart people. But finding a mentor? Tough to say how one does that…
Terrific list!
This list actually describes the skills of a successful tech leader.
This is an awesome list. And I agree with benbree, people that follow points 1 & 6 are rare.