A Game Plan for Life: The Power of Mentoring

“We stand on the shoulders of giants.” It is our responsibility to make our shoulders available for the next generation’s climb.

A personal mentor is an individual whose principles and values have dictated his or her decisions and actions as that person went about his or her life.

That’s one of the important things about mentoring that I believe is often overlooked: Some lessons are learned more subconsciously than consciously. There are things I learned from watching my father that I purposely tried to copy in my own life. But other things I found were just kind of absorbed and became a part of my thinking and reactions wit

A mentor also can be a figure of faith—anyone from a religious figure to a church leader to a quiet spirit simply devoted to God.

I won’t like you all the same, but I’ll love you all the same.” That was the promise I made to them, and I kept it.

I’ve talked before about the graduation gift my father gave to each of his sons when we completed grade school: a two-dollar bill, and a small card with a poem on one side and seven rules for living on the other: 1. Be true to yourself. 2. Make each day your masterpiece. 3. Help others. 4. Drink deeply from good books. 5. Make friendship a fine art

Humiliation is not the same thing as correction: One attacks the person; the other attacks the problem.

And here’s the kicker: You don’t always have to agree with your mentor. In fact, some of the best learning comes from watching others’ mistakes. What matters is what you do with the lessons those mentors teach you.

If there is a problem, it should be addressed early on, but it also should be addressed quietly.