Mentoring the Next Generation

"While I made my living as a coach, I have lived my life to be a mentor-and to be mentored!...constantly. Everything in the world has been passed down. Every piece of knowledge is something that has been shared by someone else. If you understand it as I do, mentoring becomes your true legacy. It is the greatest inheritance you can give to others. It is why you get up every day-to teach and be taught."

-John Wooden, legendary UCLA basketball coach and author of A Game Plan for Life

Not long ago, over the span of a few weeks I encountered four young adults ranging in age from nineteen to twenty-six. They made such a favorable impression on me that I feel compelled to share the experiences in this post.?I was struck by the consistent, positive behaviors they all exhibited, despite their diverse backgrounds and the various reasons they had for wanting to speak with me.?Each of them demonstrated sincere?courtesy, curiosity, and gratitude,?and they all?followed up?with me in a timely manner based on the different subjects we had discussed.?As an added bonus, each of them sent me a handwritten thank you note.?Why do these behaviors stand out??In today’s world, I am likely to observe one, possibly two at most, of these behaviors I value so highly from people of any age, but rarely do I encounter all four behaviors at once.?To say the least, I was intrigued and wanted to understand what made these four young adults different.

I reached out to each of them to specifically ask where they had learned these behaviors and who had taught them.?Again, there was remarkable consistency from these four very different young adults as they answered my questions.?Each of them described the positive influence of their parents growing up and later the influence of helpful mentors in college.?The three who were out of college and in the workplace described a caring boss or senior-level mentor who had taken them under their wing and taught (and modeled) the value of courtesy, curiosity, gratitude, and follow up.?I suspected this would be the case, but it was affirming to hear it straight from these remarkable young people.

Why Does This Matter?

I am truly grateful to have had the opportunity to frequently speak on college campuses and mentor young professionals over the last two decades.?I have heard for years the criticism leveled at this emerging generation of future leaders by older professionals who bemoan what they perceive to be a lack of interest in practicing the positive behaviors I shared in this post.?At times I have been critical as well. Maybe though, if the lessons from these four young adults means anything, we should point the finger of blame at ourselves and not them. Maybe, the students were ready all along and the teachers were nowhere to be found . . .

Those of us who are parents have a wonderful opportunity to teach our children the lessons and values that will make them successful in life and in the professional world.?Do we make the most of this opportunity and the short amount of time we have them under our roofs to achieve this goal??For those of us who are leaders, do we look at our younger colleagues with a jaundiced eye and level unfair criticism at them—or?do we embrace our clear responsibility to teach them what we have learned and prepare them to lead??Do we actively give time to students in the schools we attended or in the communities where we live??How many younger colleagues at work are we mentoring right now??How much time do we invest in sharing lessons and stories from our career with junior members of our company, illuminating the keys to our success and helping them learn from our failures??By the way, I would suggest that we not wait for the perfect company program to act, but instead treat mentorship as the urgent and ongoing responsibility of every leader.

I hope as you read this post, you will not feel offended but rather encouraged and inspired to be the positive mentor that young adults will identify one day in the future as someone who helped, guided, taught, and coached them to success.?I know my younger son has benefited tremendously from the generous mentors who have helped influence his life.?With the demands of family, business, and other commitments, I know I sometimes fall short in this area, and you may be feeling the same.?Regardless, I know most of us can do better.?Surely we can find time to invest in the future.?Even if we start with mentoring just one college student or young professional after reading this post, that will be a start. Don’t let uncertainty or self-doubt get in the way: I believe everyone has something of value to share with others.

If you are already an encouraging and helpful mentor to the next generation of leaders, then I would like to share my sincere gratitude.?If you have gifts, wisdom, and lessons to share and are willing to find time to share them, please take on this challenge without delay. Finally, I have a surprise to share that good mentors already know: as we spend time mentoring younger colleagues,?they typically inspire and teach us valuable lessons as well.

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What valuable insights from your life and experiences can you share with an aspiring leader today? Be open to what they can teach you as well.

*Adapted from Chapter 20 of Essential Wisdom for Leaders of Every Generation

Check out Randy Hain's latest leadership books, Upon Reflection: Helpful Insights and Timeless Lessons for the Busy Professional and Essential Wisdom for Leaders of Every Generation. Learn more and order the books from Amazon here .

Randy Hain is the president of Serviam Partners , the award-winning author of nine books, an executive coach, leadership consultant and thought leader on candor, time management and business relationships. He is also the co-founder of The Leadership Foundry