Mentoring & The Start-Up
Talk with any CEO or Entrepreneur and you will hear them talk about how mentors helped them through difficult as well as growing times.
Unfortunately, many young CEO’s and General Managers think that having a mentor or many mentors are a sign of weakness. I cannot disagree more.
A mentor, especially during the “young” time of your company, is ideal for the following reasons:
1) He/she can bring focus when it is needed.
2) He/she can strengthen a weakness that you may have (i.e. they can bring accounting help if you don’t have any idea of how to set up your accounting practice).
3) They are a great sounding board.
The last is ideal for the young CEO. So many young managers are embarrassed or think that it is a sign of weakness to ask for help (or just brainstorm) internally in the company – a mentor cannot be seen in this light, as they are not with the company and are not linked to the success or failure of the company – they are linked to the success or failure of the individual.
Don’t believe that your “Board of Directors” or your “Advisory Board” is made up of mentors for you, the CEO. They are not. Yes, they want to help and want success, but, not you specifically. They want the company to be a success. They will just as quickly remove you from your position as they will walk away from a losing proposition.
As I have written so many times before – surround yourself with mentors that a) want you to succeed, b) help you see the forest and not the tree and c) strengthen your weakness’s. If you do this, your odds for success have increased dramatically.
