The Joy of Mentoring

A long time friend/ex-reportee/mentee/ called me a while ago to share the news of his promotion into a very high post. Apparently I was the second person he called after sharing the news with his wife. He had thanked me for playing a role in his growth. Moments like this are to be cherished for life. It gives great satisfaction that someone you helped (definitely along with many other folks), has reached their potential. Many people ask me why I'm happy to spend/invest/waste (depending on who you talk) my time with mentees and the answer is just simple "there is a great joy in helping someone reach their potential". I'm sure most mentors would agree with this. Infact one of my mentor keeps an eye on how I'm mentoring my mentees and pushes me to expand my circle of influence. Other advantage of being in a mentor-mentee relationship is that you can build a great number of trusted relationships for life.

I'm particularly blessed with having a great set of mentors and mentees. I get to learn from both. I also notice that not many people seem to have mentors and I can tell that they are missing a lot.

Do you have mentors? Do you mentor someone? If not, why not?

RamP!

Reading list for Feb-2012

I wanted to read these books for long, but the copies for not available India, not was there a Kindle version. These are the three books I plan to read this month:

Sacred Hoops: Spiritual Lessons of a Hardwood Warrior
Ensuring team work amongst fiercely competitive individual contributors is how earn my living. Why not learn these principles from legendary coach Phil Jackson who had Michael Jordan on his team? Considered a maverick for his unorthodox coaching methods, Jackson demonstrates how he adapts the precepts of Zen Buddhism, the ways of the Lakota Sioux, and other alternative styles to the task of coaching the NBA 's Chicago Bulls. They range from group meditation sessions, to hanging Lakota warrior items on the locker room shelf, to splicing segments of the movie Wizard of Oz into game films to make a point.



Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-being
I'm a big fan of Martin Seligman (author of Authentic Happiness and Learned Optimism). Flourish builds on Dr. Seligman’s game-changing work on optimism, motivation, and character to show how to get the most out of life, unveiling an electrifying new theory of what makes a good life—for individuals, for communities, and for nations. In a fascinating evolution of thought and practice, Flourish refines what Positive Psychology is all about. While certainly a part of well-being, happiness alone doesn’t give life meaning. Seligman now asks, What is it that enables you to cultivate your talents, to build deep, lasting relationships with others, to feel pleasure, and to contribute meaningfully to the world? In a word, what is it that allows you to flourish?

Bring Out the Magic in Mind
This is an out-of-print, hard to find book written by Al Koran guess in early 1900s. The philosophy seems to be the same as the one taught in "The Secret" and other similar books - use the power of sub conscious mind to manifest things.