According to Suzy Welch, the popular US journalist and writer focused on business, this traditional approach to mentoring is unrealistic. In a recent CNBC video, she literally said that your mentor doesn't have to be "a Yoda". Nor do they have to be older or senior to you. You should look for a person who can do something you want to learn.
The relationship with a mentor certainly can't work if you send them an e-mail asking for mentoring and then have to wait months or forever for a reply. To build a beneficial relationship, you need to change your attitude to selecting a mentor using the following steps.
1. Don't seek a mentor for a lifetime
Focus primarily on the skills you are interested in. You don't have to look for a mentor who will spend whole years helping you. Just look around.
Your colleagues will certainly excel in some skills that you lack, so learn from them. The advantage of such mentoring is its short-term character and diversity. Your colleague can spend a day, a week or a month with you and then you can look for other mentors.
2. Don't limit yourself to mentors you know personally
Someone you don't know personally but are watching their work can be your mentor. Moreover, the person doesn't even have to know you are learning from them.
3. Don't wait for an unavailable mentor
You can try to address someone older with many years of experience and a leading position in the business, but in most cases these people will not be able to devote themselves to you. There is no point in waiting for such unobtainable mentors to find time for you. Look for opportunities that exist here and now.
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