Mentoring tomorrow’s leaders today is high value, high impact strategic investment in the longevity and success of our community and economy as a whole. In most western cultures we tend to think in quarterly terms or at best annually when it comes to business and leadership success. And when it comes to creating a succession plan for ourselves and our organization that will reap results in 5 or 10 years from now, it might all seem like a warm and fuzzy idea. More and more we are becoming more insular and less connected to our communities and even our own corporate team. People send e-mails to the guy in the cubicle beside them instead of popping their head around the corner and saying hi.
This may not seem like a big deal but what we’re losing is the tradition of connection between our elders or mentors and the next generation. What’s lost here are the high impact tidbits of tacit knowledge, the street smart lessons, insights learned in the school of life, values, access to the mentors resources and networks, and opportunity to learn the often untold principles of success that aren’t taught in University or found online. In all of it’s glory it’s too easy to hop onto the web and get an answer (who writes that stuff anyway?). But it’s about using the information and sifting through what is relevant and what is not. The very personal exchange that occurs through mentorship and even connecting with our peers is lost. The information age has spawned the disinformation age. Try weeding through and verifying the facts you find on one of the 9 billion WebPages indexed by Google and MSN.
As mentors and leaders this knowledge and ability we have comes with a responsibility. We believe strongly that if members of our community can share the roadmaps they have discovered and experienced, along with their insights from these journeys be it for business, personal, marital or spiritual success and through sharing this insight by investing as little as a couple hours a month the difference that can be made in many lives will be massive. Doing this within our community, including the chance to increase our shared prosperity will build the kind of high impact legacy we can all be proud of.
This is blogathon entry number 18 for the MSMF Blogathon. Visit this page to learn how you can support this cause. Also if you live in Vancouver please check out the Vancouver Board of Trade’s Leaders of Tomorrow Mentorship Program.