The Positive Power of Mentoring – Real Examples to Guide You

In recent years, we have heard much about mentors and the act of mentoring others coming behind you. Some say it’s a way to ‘pay forward’ all they have learned that brought them to their current level of success and others believe it’s a way to network on a continuum that never ends.

As you mentor and teach others the art of mentoring, they too go forward, increasing your network exponentially as it grows. Either way, there is a positive power in mentoring that is beneficial to both the person being mentored as well as to the mentors themselves.

Here are just a few examples of real life mentors who were credited with bringing others to a significant level of success.

mentoring.The Late Steve Jobs – Co-founder of Apple, Former CEO

If anyone was to ask you what is the first site that comes to mind when you think of the Internet, chances are Facebook will pop into your mind long before any businesses you deal with or shopping sites you frequent. Social media has taken hold of the world and it is even a huge presence in China, interestingly enough! Did you know that Facebook’s founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, was himself mentored by the late, great Steve Jobs?

In fact, one of the leading entrepreneurs in America today, Tai Lopez attributes much of what he has learned to mentors along the way, of which he says he had many. Each imparted a different bit of wisdom which he learned from and incorporated into his strategies for success. We can see where both these men, Zuckerberg and Lopez, learned the beauty of being mentors!

Queen of Talk – Oprah Winfrey

Oprah, herself, spends much time working with young women striving to succeed in a world that is still dominated by men. She looks back to her own success and attributes much of it to being mentored by the late poet and author, Maya Angelou.

Oprah says that Maya was always a presence in her life, especially in the beginning years when she was most in need of guidance. At the time when Oprah’s career took off she was one of few women in the industry, but to be a young, black woman at a time when the civil rights movement was still in its infancy, she had obstacles to overcome that many other women and most men were never challenged with.

So Much for Competition – Christian Dior Mentored Yves St. Laurent!

It is really sad that a great many successful business men and women fear mentoring because they will be aiding and abetting the competition. Tai Lopez and Christian Dior are two examples of extremely successful and wealthy entrepreneurs who say “Hogwash!” Christian Dior was a powerful presence in the beginning years of his protégé Yves St. Laurent, and as we all know, in the world of high fashion. Both names are just as famous, both brands are shopped just as frequently and both brands are still forces to reckoned with. So much for being afraid of a little healthy competition!

Always keep in mind the fact that as a mentor you will be enriched as much, if not more than those you are mentoring. Not only do you walk away with a ‘feel good’ sense that you’ve done something of value for another but you learn something along the way as well.

There isn’t a teacher on earth who can’t list all the things they learned in a classroom from their students. The same is true of mentors. With each new mentoring relationship you develop, you walk away with something of value as well. There truly is positive power in mentoring.