By the Way...Did You Know You're My Mentor?

I spoke with a new connection about her company this week: The culture, where I might fit in and how I can pursue if interested. It's a really brilliant company and role; one of Built in NYC's Startups to Watch! And while I could tell she's excited about the work they're doing, there was something more there. Something she said intrigued me, so I asked to hear the story of how/why she came to work there.

The "why" is a certain C-level team member. My new connection had been following and admiring this woman's career and work for years. Then briefly overlapped with her, and was determined to work with her again. This executive is successful, smart, respected, well-spoken and has a wardrobe to envy, as well, I hear!

She signed up for job alerts and checked the careers page religiously. And though it took a little while, her persistence paid off! I've got second-hand excitement for her and her opportunity to continue to learn from this woman, whom she's adopted as her mentor.

At Pershing Advisor Solutions they actually created a reverse mentoring program several years ago. Top execs were paired with 20-somethings to get them up to speed on everything from Snapchat to modern day job-hunting to the lack of education students are getting at college when it comes to managing their finances. I loved this program and thoroughly enjoyed seeing the mentor/mentee bonds at our meetings.

A few things strike me about mentorship these days:

1. I hear more and more people say that they don't feel like they have a mentor these days. Not from the past and certainly not at their current companies. That they're just working away, not learning from anyone, not growing, with no sounding board or cheer squad.
2. Some of our mentors don't know they're our mentors! Why are we being so shy about this? If I'm inspiring someone, I'd like to know. I'd like to help! I mean, Oprah is my hero and my mentor, and while I'm not sure she exactly knows it, so as to stay on this side of a restraining order, I'll keep up my current volume of tweets/shares/outreach to Oprah and her people.
3. There is no age, title or time in the professional world that dictates who your mentor can be.

If you look at my LinkedIn profile, it's no secret that my resume could easily spill over to a second page. But there's a great story to each of my companies and transitions. If you'd like to hear it, drop me a line!

All these wonderful roles have afforded me the opportunity to meet, work with, and learn from some incredible top talent. But I got to thinking: do those I consider mentors know what I learned from them? That I tell other people how they impacted my life and career? That I still speak mantras that they taught me over the years? How interactive is the relationship between a mentor/mentee "supposed" to be, or remain?

I actually bumped into one of the most influential people in my career in a shop in Brooklyn recently. He was tough on me years ago. We butted heads. He pushed me to be better, and he was right about everything, darnit. Our company went through big changes and before I knew it, we no longer worked together. We didn't leave on bad terms, we just weren't part of each other's daily lives anymore.

I've thought about him many times over the years. As he walked towards me, I wondered, would he even remember me? Or want to? I saw the look of realization on his face; it lit up with a big warm smile. We hugged and "how do you do'd" and I took the opportunity to tell him, my mentor, what our time together taught me. I thanked him for being hard on me once upon a time and told him how I've executed on his advice and passed it along to those I've have the pleasure of mentoring. I told him about my job search and he was so supportive. He was humble but appreciative. He told me he saw something in me back then that wasn't otherwise being nurtured, and extended an offer to always be there for me moving forward.

I feel refreshed these days. It's such a conscious, transparent journey that I'm on, and all the best parts of my career and people I've met and been mentored by are coming through loud and clear.

If you're looking to make a move, write down what you want, places you think might be a good fit, what challenges you're facing, and call someone you admire. Anyone can be your mentor, and I would bet they'll be touched to know that their work ethic made a lasting impression. I'm reaching out to all of my mentors this week, and making a promise not to let it take so long next time.