This post is for professional service firms who are thinking of starting a mentoring program or who have one and are wondering why it’s not a brilliant success. Assigning mentors doesn’t work. And internal mentoring programs are rife with problems. If …

When mentoring of associates became all the rage, some law firms thought that the solution to keeping new associates happy was to assign them a mentor. They would recruit senior associates or partners willing to participate in the program. But…

An excellent post at Escape from Cubicle Nation is called How Can You Find a Great Mentor? in which author Pamela Stuart Slim discusses several facts about mentoring and offers must-read advice. She notes there are three types of mentors: The technical…

Anyhow, the approach usually goes something like this: I get taken to a bar, restaurant or coffee shop and flattered for about half an hour. Then the would-be entrepreneur talks about how exciting their business is. Finally, they ask me to mentor them. Usually, they expect several days a month, indefinitely. Usually, they have no idea of what they can offer in return, either pay, stock or whatever (although I was offered a fat cigar once). It’s not about the money as much as the fact that they have obviously thought I have so much free time that all I want to do is spend it on their business. I’ve learned that the best way to deal with these charming entrepreneur wannabes is to give them my five top tips about starting a business (this list changes depending on my mood) and then ask them to send me a business plan and and say I’ll consider it. So far, of the four or five people who have approached me, none has actually got as far as writing a business plan and, needless to say, none has actually started a business. Looking back on it, I reckon they really wanted me to provide the enterpreneurial juice to get them going and not the occasional bit of advice along the way.

All this is really to add four points to your post. If you approach a potential mentor:

1) Be realistic about the commitment you ask for.
2) Have something to offer in return (doesn’t have to be cash)
3) Don’t expect them to do your job.
4) Have a plausible business plan. It’s just like going to a VC except you want time not capital.

When I studied creative writing it was with the ‘wise elder’, Sir Malcolm Bradbury. When he told our group ‘this year, you are writers’, it gave the confidence to believe that truth… and hey, I never went back to cubicle nation after that year…

Thanks for this wonderful post Pamela.

Pamela Slim asks how can you find great mentors?
When people come to me with questions about how to start or run their business, one of the most frequent pieces of advice I dispense is: Find yourself a great mentor.
The reason a great mentor is so eff…

Pamela Slim, author of the blog, ESCAPE FROM CUBICLE NATION: Posted a great piece on How to find a great mentor. When people come to me with questions about how to start or run their business, one of the most