The next day, the drama teacher approached Keegan, “I need you to be involved in the play.” He had never previously considered theater, but he quickly discovered his gifts on the stage, landing major roles every year. Since then, Keegan has won a Peabody and an Emmy for his work.

When I was in high school, my interests wandered drastically. One week I was going to be a librarian, the next a biologist. Junior year I casually enrolled in a Business Law class. But I was immediately captivated by the topic, and my teacher noticed. He encouraged me to continue with Business Law II and nominated me for moot court.

And when my mom offhandedly said, “You know, women can be lawyers,” law school became my destination. Thereafter I practiced law as a start-up attorney in Silicon Valley and loved it!

We are always mentoring others, sometimes deliberately, often inadvertently, even recklessly.

We mentor through our words, our actions, our responses, our advice (solicited and unsolicited), our connections, our encouragement, and even our discouragement.

To mentor others is a privilege. But like any superpower, it comes with a responsibility to be wielded with prudence and purpose.

The first step? Awareness and accountability. Let’s start asking each other, “Who are you mentoring these days?”

When we acknowledge our role in mentoring, we can bolster our intentionality and elevate our impact.

Happy Mentoring Month!

© 2021. Ann Tardy and Mentor Lead. www.mentorlead.com | www.anntardy.com

When a client called to set up an onboarding program, I heard myself flippantly say, “It will be easy to get Mentors. Just find people who have a pulse.”

Shortly after the program launched, they discovered that their Mentors were “ghosting” their New Hires – completely ignoring them. And when the New Hires took the initiative by calling their Mentors, those Mentors retreated with, “I’m going to pass.”

What!? Pass!? That’s not an option! You’re a Mentor. You made a commitment!

Or did they? I only suggested that they have a pulse…

And then it struck me – I’ve been shortchanging the Mentor role.

Desperate to attract Mentors and inundated with people crying “so busy!”, I have downplayed the commitment. I’ve been recklessly seeking an easy “yes!” from a warm body.

My overly enthusiastic, pleading pitch sounds like: “All you have to do is share your stories and any wisdom you have! Just show up whenever it works. I promise you can do this even though you’re super busy!”

I’ve been selling Mentor 1.0.

And in doing so, I have neglected the critical role Mentors play. I’ve disregarded the power of Mentors to influence individual success while driving organizational strategy. And I’ve abandoned the promise that Mentors develop themselves by mentoring others!

So now I’m pitching Mentor 2.0

Mentor 2.0:

• connects Mentee to strategic, career-impacting people
• urges Mentee to explore opportunities valuable to their growth
• promotes Mentee by sharing with colleagues Mentee’s strengths, talents, and projects

Mentor 2.0 is an ally, a champion, an advocate for Mentee’s success.

In turn, Mentor 2.0 astutely leverages the experience to strengthen their own leadership skills.

And equally important, Mentor 2.0 embraces the opportunity to up-level the organization.

When people understand that they are being called upon, not for their pulse, but to make a difference, they don’t just step forward, they jump in!

© 2020. Ann Tardy and Mentor Lead. www.mentorlead.com | www.anntardy.com

His impassioned speech continued, “Your heart is free… have the courage to follow it. Every man dies. Not every man really lives!”

Wallace employed this battle cry (at least in the movie) to rally his countrymen to join in the fight against England. He gave his neighbors meaning and purpose – something to fight for.

Now imagine the frenzied soldiers running into battle, committed to the cause, eager to encounter their enemy.

Suddenly, one of the soldiers pulls Wallace aside in the middle of the action to complain about another soldier. “He’s definitely sabotaging me! I was excluded from the meeting last night. Plus, he never considers my ideas. I keep asking for a deadline and he refuses to commit. And his equipment is nicer than mine!”

Inconceivable. Because when a battle cry triggers passion and action in others, people run in the same direction, thereby demoting inconsequential circumstances and situations.

But when there is no battle cry – no purpose, no ambition on a mission, no passion – people elevate the inconsequential and make the unimportant important.

We are meaning-making machines. If we don’t make meaning in our work, we will make meaning in how we work.

So when teams struggle – personalities clash and altercations persist – it’s often a symptom, an indication that people are missing the why, the purpose, the meaning in their work together.

If people don’t have a reason to run in the same direction, they are more likely to run into each other.

© 2020. Ann Tardy and Mentor Lead. www.mentorlead.com | www.anntardy.com

For the kickoff, we organized a massive, in-person, standing-room-only event with balloons and streamers. The room was bursting with excitement!

I joined the CEO on stage to introduce their new program, share strategies around mentoring, and invite her employees to access the mentoring platform that my company had created for them.

A man in the front row raised his hand to ask the CEO, “Will you have a profile on the mentoring platform?”

Caught off guard, she stammered, looked at me sheepishly, and in front of hundreds of her eager, hopeful employees, she asked me, “Ann, can I participate with an alias?”

I was dumbfounded. The CEO had just asked me if she could join her own mentoring community with a fake profile so she could hide out and not truly participate.

Taking a cue from their “leader,” the audience immediately erupted in pleas for an alias too.

And just like that, the CEO fated the program.

Why wouldn’t she lead? What was she afraid of? Why cower when she had the opportunity to influence? Why not be enthusiastic, encouraging, and visionary instead of fearful, doubtful, and dismissive?

Because she didn’t know why to lead.

And when people don’t know why they should lead, they default to what they do best: manage. They manage their time, responsibilities, budgets, projects, and conflicts.

She didn’t know why to lead, so she managed… from the stage. I watched her face as she processed the possibility that people might actually contact her for mentoring. What would she do? She’s already so busy!

But if she knew that leading could… save her time, decrease attrition, increase effectiveness, bolster resilience and initiative, and solidify her status as a great boss…

…she would have boldly said, “Yes!”

© 2020. Ann Tardy and Mentor Lead. www.mentorlead.com | www.anntardy.com