Importance of Mentorship

Neil deGrasse Tyson, the charismatic astrophysicist with a Twitter following of 14.5M people, wouldn’t have gotten where he is without Carl Sagan’s mentorship. Fun fact – Sagan tried to recruit Tyson to attend Cornell but since Tyson was an undefeated prep wrestling champ he selected Harvard in order to wrestle and pursue physics.

Aristotle, even more legendary, owes a lot of his fame to Plato, who owes HIS legacy to Socrates.

Mentors have been invaluable to their protégés for literal ages. This is also true in the business world.

Yet, a lot of leaders consider mentoring to be a “nice to have” rather than a “have to have.” They want to do it, but only when they have time.

In my mind, there’s never been a better time than right now to create a culture of mentorship within your company. The workplace has undergone some massive shifts in the last few years. People need all the connection and support they can get.

As a recruiter for 20+ years, I’ve witnessed the powerful effects mentorship can have on rising talent within a company. If you’ve been considering taking on a mentee, or asking for a mentor, just do it.