Small Business Today Magazine OCT 2014 THE EFFORT COMPANIES | Page 18

EDITORIALFEATURE

Mentoring Guides

Your Success                    
By Hank Moore, Corporate Strategist™

S

mart Leaders Don’t Have to Be Lonely at
the Top.  Professionals who succeed the
most are the products of mentoring.  The
mentor is a resource for business trends,
societal issues, and opportunities.The mentor becomes a role model, offering insights about their
own life-career.  This reflection shows the mentee
levels of thinking and perception which were not
previously available.  The mentor is an advocate
for progress and change.  Such work empowers
the mentee to hear, accept, believe, and get results.  The sharing of trust and ideas leads to developing business philosophies.

The mentor endorses the mentee, messages
ways to approach issues, helps draw distinctions,
and paints pictures of success.  The mentor opens
doors for the mentee.  The mentor requests proactive changes of mentee, evaluates realism of
goals, and offers truths about path to success and
shortcomings of mentee’s approaches.  This is a
bonded collaboration toward each other’s success.  The mentor stands by mentees throughout
their careers and celebrates their successes.  This
is a lifelong dedication toward mentorship in all
aspects of one’s life.

The Most Significant Lessons I Learned From Mentors

Fame is fleeting.  The public
is fickle and quick to jump
on the newest flavor
without showing loyalty
to the old ones, especially
those who are truly original. 
Working in radio,
I was taught, “They only
care about you when
you’re behind
the microphone”.

•

•
•
•

• You cannot go through life as a carbon copy
of someone else. 
• You must establish your own identity, which is •
a long, exacting process.
• As you establish a unique identity, others will
criticize.  Being different, you become a moving target.
• People criticize you because of what you rep- •
resent, not who you are.  It is rarely personal
against you.  Your success may bring out insecurities within others.  You might be what
they cannot or are not willing to become.
• If you cannot take the dirtiest job in any company and do it yourself then you will never •
become “management”.
• Approach your career as a body of work. 

16 SMALL BUSINESS TODAY MAGAZINE [ OCTOBER 2014 ]

This requires planning, purpose, and commitment.  It’s a career, not just a series of jobs.
The person who is only identified with one
career accomplishment or by the identity of
one company for whom he-she formerly
worked is a one-hit wonder and, thus, has no
body of work.
Many people do without the substantive insights into business because they have not
really developed critical thinking skills.
Analytical and reasoning skills are extensions
of critical thinking skills.
You perform your best work for free.  How
you fulfill commitments and pro bono work
speaks about the kind of professional that
you are.
People worry so much what others think
about them.  If they knew how little others
thought, they wouldn’t worry so much.  This
too is your challenge to frame how they see
you and your company.
Fame is fleeting.  The public is fickle and quick
to jump on the newest flavor without showing loyalty to the old ones, especially those
who are truly original.  Working in radio, I
was taught, “They only care about you when
you’re behind the microphone”.
The pioneer and “one of a kind” professional
has a tough lot in life.  It is tough to be first or
so far ahead of the curve that others cannot