The experience often benefits both mentors and mentees—and their organizations

The mentors in our lives haven’t always gone by that title, but we’ve all had one. Whether it’s been a friend, coach, teacher, sibling, parent, co-worker, or boss, we’ve benefited from the guidance and encouragement they’ve offered.

Mentoring offers a chance to both “give back” and “pay it forward.” We tend to think of a mentor as the “giver” and the mentee as the “receiver,” but most mentorships are a two-way street, with both parties learning and growing. Some mentorships can be a three-way street because of the benefits mentoring often adds to organizations, such as facilitating the growth and development of leaders, and creating a more inclusive and collaborative environment.

Some examples of famous mentorships include:

• Steve Jobs (mentor) and Mark Zuckerberg (mentee)
• Warren Buffett (mentor) Bill Gates (mentee)
• Maya Angelou (mentor) Oprah Winfrey (mentee)

The benefits of mentorship
As these examples illustrate, the benefits of mentorships may be difficult to measure—but they can be bountiful. While working together, both mentors and their mentees often realize “It’s not where your start, it’s where you end up.”

From a mentor’s perspective, the potential benefits include:

• Gaining a new perspective by looking through the lens of the mentee, with the opportunity for self-reflection
• Building confidence by recognizing how much progress they have made
• Developing and/or improving leadership and communications skills
• Gaining satisfaction from giving back to someone else, and seeing them succeed
• Creating a lasting friendship
• Expanding connections and networks

From a mentee’s perspective, the potential benefits include:

• Gaining insights and practical knowledge from a more experienced person
• Avoiding potential mistakes or errors in judgment
• Increasing self-confidence and self-awareness
• Improving communication skills
• Identifying and correcting gaps in skills or knowledge
• Creating a lasting friendship
• Expanding connections and networks

Consider “giving back” and “paying it forward” by becoming a mentor
For those who want to demonstrate how adept they are at multi-tasking, it’s possible to “give back” and “pay it forward” at the same time by mentoring. To learn about mentoring opportunities near you, The Mentoring Connector offers a national database of mentoring programs.

This material is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. There is no assurance that the views or strategies discussed are suitable for all investors or will yield positive outcomes. Investing involves risks including possible loss of principal.

This material was prepared by LPL Financial.

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