The Mentor Manifesto
I recently joined the mentor team at 1 Semester Startup, a new undergraduate incubator at the University of Texas Austin. I’m inspired by the passion and vision of these students, and honored to be working with such an amazing team of Instructors (Josh Baer, Bob Metcalfe and John Butler) and other mentors (Joel Trammell, Laura Beck, Rudy Garza, Damon Clinkscales and many more!).
They recently posted this David C. Cohen article “The Mentor Manifesto” on their Facebook Page, and I wanted to also share it with you. I found it to be true in mentoring, and also true in life.
The Mentor Manifesto
- Be socratic.
- Expect nothing in return (you’ll be delighted with what you do get back).
- Be authentic / practice what you preach.
- Be direct. Tell the truth, however hard.
- Listen too.
- The best mentor relationships eventually become two-way.
- Be responsive.
- Adopt at least one company every single year. Experience counts.
- Clearly separate opinion from fact.
- Hold information in confidence.
- Clearly commit to mentor or do not. Either is fine.
- Know what you don’t know. Say I don’t know when you don’t know. “I don’t know” is preferable to bravado.
- Guide, don’t control. Teams must make their own decisions. Guide but never tell them what to do. Understand that it’s their company, not yours.
- Accept and communicate with other mentors that get involved.
- Be optimistic.
- Provide specific actionable advice, don’t be vague.
- Be challenging/robust but never destructive.
- Have empathy. Remember that startups are hard.
If you are are just starting off in your Marketing career, check out his other blog post on How to Find and Engage Great Mentors.