S AY Y E S T O M E N T O R I N G!
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SAY TO MENTORING! BY L AU R A B R A N DAO
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anuary is National Mentoring Month, and a new year is the perfect time to explore the positive impact that mentoring can have. Whether you are the mentor or the mentee, there are a myriad of benefits. In fact, mentoring has proved so beneficial that 71 percent of Fortune 500 companies offer mentoring programs to their employees.
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Success only happens when both parties take responsibility for making it work. Mentorship requires a willingness to reflect on and share one’s own experiences, including one’s failures. There is tremendous benefit to being vulnerable enough to seek out and accept guidance from a mentor. As women, we have to be ok with saying, “I need help.” There is also tremendous value in opening yourself up to candidly sharing your experience, and being willing to commit time to mentor others. Women must take ownership in empowering other women. As the first female president of CNN Productions and PBS, and the first woman to own and host a nationally syndicated daily talk show, Pat Mitchell is a serial ceiling smasher. She is also a passionate mentor, who believes mentoring is one of the strategies that can close the gender gap in leadership. Now serving the world as the editorial director of TEDWomen, Pat Mitchell has spent decades demonstrating that mentoring is one lever we
