In a post last Friday, I mentioned that January is National Mentoring Month.  In that post, I discussed what you should look for in a mentor.  Today, I’d like to urge you to begin mentoring others.  Just as it’s important to find someone you respect to mentor you, it’s also important to mentor others.  You don’t have to be in a formal leadership position or have years and years of experience to mentor someone else.  It’s never too early to become a mentor.  We all have something to give, and the sooner you begin giving, the better.  If you’re in college, you can mentor high school students.  If you’re a recent graduate, you can mentor others still in school.

I take great joy in mentoring other people.  I love it when I can use my experience to help accelerate the growth of someone else.  It takes the sting out of some of the negative consequences I’ve experienced because of poor judgment.  I think to myself, “At least he or she won’t have to go through that.”

In his great book, Love is the Killer App, Tim Sanders tells the story of how he turned one of the people who worked for him from a “mad dog” into a “lovecat.”  The advice is simple: “Offer your wisdom freely… And always be human.”

Tim is right on.  Mentoring is a great way to become a lovecat by serving others.  The more you serve others, the more confidence – and success – will come your way.

Besides that, you’ll grow by mentoring.  As you reflect on your life experiences and distill them into some nuggets that you can share with others, your knowledge will become wisdom.  In addition to being better able to help others learn and grow, you will be better able to take advantage of what you know.  You never learn something so completely as when you teach it to another person.

Any mentoring relationship needs to focus on the person being mentored.  While mentoring someone will most often be a satisfying experience for you, remember that it is not about you – it’s about the other person.  Accept him or her for who he or she is.  Help him or her proceed at his or her own pace.  The best mentoring relationships are guided by the person being mentored.

Mentoring should be a positive experience for both of you.  That means that you need to avoid treating a person you are mentoring as incompetent or incapable.  Rather, think of him or her as someone lacking in experience and who needs guidance.  Don’t criticize.  Help the other person think through the consequences of his or her behavior and to identify more positive ways of handling difficult or troubling situations.

Hold the person you are mentoring responsible for his or her success.  Give him or her small assignments.  Don’t let him or her off the hook if he or she fails to complete them.  Be willing to give of yourself and your time, but make sure the other person is doing so, too.

Realize that the relationship will end.  If you’ve done a good job, the person you are mentoring will need to move on at some point.  It’s all part of the cycle.  It can be hard to let go, but feel good about seeing someone move on to bigger and better things – and another mentor.

I’ve shared an acronym to define what it takes to become a good mentor.  A good mentor…

M Motivates you to accomplish more than you think you can.

E Expects the best of you.

N Never gives up on you or lets you give up on yourself.

T Tells you the truth, even when it hurts.

O Occasionally kicks your butt.

R Really cares about you and your success.

Look for people with these qualities when you are searching for a mentor.  Embody them yourself when you are mentoring others.

The common sense career success coach point here is simple.  Just as mentors can help you create the life and career success you want and deserve.  You can help others create their life and career success by becoming a mentor. It’s never too early to begin mentoring others.  There is always someone who needs your career advice; someone who needs to know what you’ve already learned.  Take some of your time to share what you know.  Be a positive person.  Help others achieve the life and career success they want and deserve.

That’s my career advice on furthering your career by mentoring others.  What do you think?  Please take a minute to share your thoughts with us in a comment.  As always, I appreciate you taking the time to read my daily musings on life and career success.  Thanks.  Check in tomorrow to see what career success tid bits I’ll have for you.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, please download a free copy of my popular career advice book Success Tweets and its companion piece Success Tweets Explained.  The first gives you 140 bits of career success advice tweet style — in 140 characters or less.  The second is a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.

PPS: I opened a membership site last September.  It’s called My Corporate Climb and is devoted to helping people create career success inside large corporations.  You can find out about the membership site by going to http://www.mycorporateclimb.

I am a MentorNet mentor.  MentorNet is an online service that matches mentors with college students.  It’s a great organization.  Check them out whether you are considering becoming a mentor or someone in search of a mentor.  This week I received an email from them telling me that January is National Mentoring Month.  Working with a mentor is some of the best career success advice I can give you.  Chapter 10 in my forthcoming book, Climbing the Corporate Ladder is titled “Find a Mentor to Help You Grow and Succeed.”  Climbing the Corporate Ladder will be out later this month.  I’ll be giving away copies here.

The term “mentor” comes from The Odyssey.  Before he set out to fight the Trojan War, Odysseus entrusted the care of his son Telemachus to Mentor.  The best mentors will help you learn and grow by sharing their knowledge and wisdom.  And you benefit from their experience without suffering the consequences of that experience  firsthand.

By definition, mentors are positive people.  It takes a positive person to give of himself or herself to help another learn, grow and succeed.

I have been fortunate to have had several mentors in my life and career.  All shared several key characteristics.  They all…

• Were willing to share their wisdom, knowledge, skills and expertise.
• Had a positive outlook on life.  They helped me through tough times and showed me how to find the opportunity in the difficulties I was facing.
• Were genuinely concerned about me and my success.  Besides being knowledgeable, they were empathic.
• Knew what they were doing.  I respected them for their knowledge and skills.
• Kept growing themselves.  They were curious and inquisitive.  Sometimes, the roles were reversed.  They asked what I was readingand then read the books themselves – so they could learn and we could discuss the ideas.
• Gave me direct, constructive feedback.  They held me to high standards.  They congratulated me when I met their expectations.  They corrected me when I failed to do so – but in a way where I learned what not to do the next time.
• Earned the respect of colleagues.  People highly regarded in their field or company make the best mentors.
• Sought out and valued the opinions of others.  My best mentor always told me to listen carefully to the people I disagreed with–so I might learn something.  He was right.

As the saying goes, a mentor is someone whose hindsight can become your foresight.

Do you want to find a mentor?  Just look around you.  Who are the people you admire and want to emulate?  Watch what they do and do the same.  I’ve had mentors who didn’t realize they were mentoring me.

I learned how to build a network of solid contacts by watching Maggie Watson.  I learned the rules of business etiquette and dressing for success by watching Bill Rankin.  I learned how to become a first-rate public speaker by watching Steve Roesler.  I learned how to become a trusted advisor by watching Don Nelson.  I learned how to carry myself with dignity in even the most difficult situations by watching JF and Carol Kiernan.  I learned how to become a better conversationalist by watching my wife Cathy.

The reverse is also true.  I’ve learned plenty about what not to do to build self-esteem, give performance feedback and treat people with respect and dignity from observing a few of my managers over the years.

And, I’ve found that if you want to have an acknowledged mentoring relationship, all you have to do is ask.  Go to the people you admire and tell them that you admire their judgment and would like to learn from them.  Ask if you can impose on their time to get answers to questions you have.  I have never had anyone turn me down when I’ve asked this way.

I’ve created a mentor acronym.  Look for these qualities in people you want to mentor you.  A good mentor…

M Motivates you to accomplish more than you think you can.
E Expects the best from you.
N     Never gives up on you or lets you give up on yourself.
T Tells you the truth – even when it hurts.
O Occasionally kicks your butt.
R Really cares about you and your success.

The career success coach point here is simple common sense.  Mentors can help you create the life and career success you want and deserve.  You can create acknowledged mentoring relationships by asking people you respect and admire to mentor you.  You can also gain the benefits of a mentoring relationship just by observing people who embody the skills and characteristics you admire and acting like they do.  The important point is that you don’t want to go it alone.  Working with a mentor can accelerate your progress towards the life and career success you want and deserve.

That’s my career advice on mentoring.  What do you think?  Please let us know by leaving a comment.  Also, please leave a comment giving a shout out to one of your mentors.  As always, thanks for reading my daily musings on life and career success.  I value you and I appreciate you.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, please download a free copy of my popular career advice book Success Tweets and its companion piece Success Tweets Explained.  The first gives you 140 bits of career success advice tweet style — in 140 characters or less.  The second is a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.

PPS: I opened a membership site last September.  It’s called My Corporate Climb and is devoted to helping people create career success inside large corporations.  You can find out about the membership site by going to http://www.mycorporateclimb.

Steve Jobs passed away on Wednesday.  The world is better for him having been in it, and little worse off now that he is no longer with us.

When I think of Steve Jobs, I am always reminded of my favorite quote from my favorite playwright, George Bernard Shaw…

“This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.”

Steve Jobs personified this quote.   He was a force of nature, and sadly, he seemed to be pretty worn out at the end.  He saw things in a different way from most people.  An iPod is nothing but a hard drive and set of headphones, but it revolutionized the way we listen to music.  The iStore revolutionized the way we buy music.

This isn’t an ad for Apple products.  They speak for themselves.

But Steve Jobs’ life has some great career success lessons for all of us.

Steve Jobs was confidence personified.  And self confidence is an important key to your life and career success.  Tweet 56 in my career advice book Success Tweets says, “Self confidence must come from within.  Outside reinforcement and strokes can help, but you have to build your own confidence.”  Steve Jobs did just that.

“I’m not confident, what do I need to do to become more confident?”  I get asked this question a lot.  Here is how I respond…

Self-confidence is an inside job.  Self-confident people are optimistic.  Self-confident people face their fears and act.  Self-confident people surround themselves with positive people.  If you want to build your self-confidence, focus on becoming an optimist, facing your fears and surrounding yourself with positive people.  Let’s look at each of these in a little more detail.

Optimism

Max Moore says optimism is “the fuel of heroes, the enemy of despair, the creator of the future”.  Optimism is the opposite of pessimism, which Denis Boyle says is “as magnetic as any black hole, swallowing one good day after another until there are no good days left”.  Read that sentence again.  It’s great career advice for becoming more self-confident – avoid the black hole of pessimism.

In a very interesting article in the March/April 2007 edition of AARP, The Magazine (yes, I’m old enough to be a member), Mr. Boyle makes some great points about optimism and pessimism:

“The essential truth about optimism: the opportunities for it are everywhere.  They just get ignored… Pessimism though, is the default state of our psyche, and the easy way out.  We tell ourselves there is nothing we can do because life sucks, black holes abound, Murphy’s Law rules.  Meanwhile, optimism takes effort.  Despites tons of information provided by zealous pessimists, optimists believe everything will turn out fine.  They are able to do something no pessimist can: they do their part to make sure tomorrow will be better than today.  To subscribe to optimism means that you have a role in shaping your own future.  Why is this important?  Because it’s how stuff gets done.  No successful individual could conduct business with a set of pessimistic assumptions… Work, progress, great ideas, all are fueled by optimism.”

I agree.  I am an optimist.  I admit that in these days of economic uncertainty and crazy partisan politics it can be difficult being optimistic, but I choose to be relentlessly optimistic.  I believe every day is going to be a good day – and set about making it so.  I believe I will succeed in every project I undertake.  This optimism fuels my self-confidence, and my self-confidence drives my performance and my career success.  I never met him, but I bet Steve Jobs was a bigger optimist than me.

Tal Ben-Shahar teaches a course in Positive Psychology at Harvard.  He had 800 students in his course last year.  He offers the following three tips for becoming more optimistic:

1. Give yourself permission to be human – don’t beat up yourself about mistakes.
2. Express gratitude often.
3. Engage in activities that give your life pleasure as well as meaning.

Fear

Fear is the enemy of self-confidence and career success.  It’s also very normal.  We’re all afraid sometimes.  Usually it’s a fear of failure.  Fear can be debilitating, paralyzing us into inaction.  Over the years, I’ve found how to face up to my fears and to conquer them.  Indecision, procrastination and inaction feed fear.  Action cures it.

Here are my four easy steps for dealing with fear…

1. Identify what you fear.
2. Admit that you fear it.
3. Accept that you fear it.
4. Take action to deal with what you fear.

Positive People

Surround yourself with positive people – people who are both positive by nature, and positive about their life and career success. Positive people are optimistic – and as I’ve discussed above, optimism is the first step in building self-confidence.

Positive people help you feel good about yourself, because they feel good about themselves and life in general.  Positive people are there when you begin to doubt yourself.  They help you build your self-esteem because they have a strong sense of self-esteem.  People with a strong sense of self-esteem are not threatened by others.  They realize that self-esteem is not a fixed pie.  There is an unlimited amount of it to go around.  Therefore, you can build your self-confidence just by being around upbeat, positive people.

Identifying and building relationships with mentors is another way to build your self confidence.  Wikipedia defines a mentor as “a trusted friend, advisor, counselor or teacher; usually a more experienced person… Today mentors provide their expertise to less experienced individuals in order to help them advance their careers, enhance their education, and build their networks.”

Mentors are positive people by definition.  You cannot be willing to lend your wisdom and expertise to another person without being hopeful about that person and his or her future.

I have had several mentors over my career: Bert Phillips, Maggie Watson, Dick Pelton, Bill Rankin, Howard Sohn, were all trusted friends and advisors at one time or another in my career.  I believe that mentoring is so powerful that, as I turn 61, I am working with a great mentor, 20 years my junior. JT O’Donnell is helping me turn the intellectual property that I have developed over the past 35 years into products that can be sold on line.

Mentors challenge you to do better.  That’s why they are so important in building self-confidence.  As they challenge you, they are also telling you that “you can do it”.  Having someone who believes in you – like a mentor – is one of the best ways I know to build self-confidence and your life and career success.

The career success coach point here is simple common sense.  We all lost a good friend this week, Steve Jobs.  I began this post with a quote from George Bernard Shaw that applies to Steve Jobs.  I’d like to finish with another one.  “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”  Steve Jobs was an unreasonable man – that’s why he is iconic, and the world is a better place for him having been in it.  He believed in himself and his ideas.   He was incredibly self confident.  All successful people are self-confident.  They understand and apply the career advice in Tweet 56 in Success Tweets.  “Self-confidence must come from within.  Outside reinforcement and strokes can help, but you have to build your own confidence.”  You can build your self-confidence by becoming an optimist, facing your fears and acting and surrounding yourself with positive people.  Self-confidence is an inside job.  You have to create it yourself.  But once you do, you’ll find that it’s an upward spiral.  Your confidence will inspire you to take on challenges.  Your success in dealing with these challenges will help you become more confident – which in turn, will allow you to take on and meet even greater challenges.  Just look at Steve Jobs and what he created at Apple.

That’s the career advice I found in the sad news about Steve Jobs’ passing.  What do you think?  Please take a minute to share your thoughts with us in a comment.  As always, thanks for reading my daily musings on life and career success.  I value you.  I appreciate you.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, please download a free copy of my popular career advice book Success Tweets and its companion piece Success Tweets Explained.  The first contains 140 bits of career success advice, all in 140 characters or less.  The second is a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.

PPS: I opened a membership site on September 1.  It’s called My Corporate Climb and is devoted to helping people create career success inside large corporations.  To celebrate the grand opening, I’m giving away a new career advice book I’ve written called I Want YOU…To Succeed in Your Corporate Climb.  You can find out about the membership site and get the career advice in I Want YOU… for free by going to http://www.mycorporateclimb.

Steve Jobs passed away on Wednesday.  The world is better for him having been in it, and little worse off now that he is no longer with us.

When I think of Steve Jobs, I am always reminded of my favorite quote from my favorite playwright, George Bernard Shaw…

“This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.”

Steve Jobs personified this quote.   He was a force of nature, and sadly, he seemed to be pretty worn out at the end.  He saw things in a different way from most people.  An iPod is nothing but a hard drive and set of headphones, but it revolutionized the way we listen to music.  The iStore revolutionized the way we buy music.

This isn’t an ad for Apple products.  They speak for themselves.

But Steve Jobs’ life has some great career success lessons for all of us.

Steve Jobs was confidence personified.  And self confidence is an important key to your life and career success.  Tweet 56 in my career advice book Success Tweets says, “Self confidence must come from within.  Outside reinforcement and strokes can help, but you have to build your own confidence.”  Steve Jobs did just that.

“I’m not confident, what do I need to do to become more confident?”  I get asked this question a lot.  Here is how I respond…

Self-confidence is an inside job.  Self-confident people are optimistic.  Self-confident people face their fears and act.  Self-confident people surround themselves with positive people.  If you want to build your self-confidence, focus on becoming an optimist, facing your fears and surrounding yourself with positive people.  Let’s look at each of these in a little more detail.

Optimism

Max Moore says optimism is “the fuel of heroes, the enemy of despair, the creator of the future”.  Optimism is the opposite of pessimism, which Denis Boyle says is “as magnetic as any black hole, swallowing one good day after another until there are no good days left”.  Read that sentence again.  It’s great career advice for becoming more self-confident – avoid the black hole of pessimism.

In a very interesting article in the March/April 2007 edition of AARP, The Magazine (yes, I’m old enough to be a member), Mr. Boyle makes some great points about optimism and pessimism:

“The essential truth about optimism: the opportunities for it are everywhere.  They just get ignored… Pessimism though, is the default state of our psyche, and the easy way out.  We tell ourselves there is nothing we can do because life sucks, black holes abound, Murphy’s Law rules.  Meanwhile, optimism takes effort.  Despites tons of information provided by zealous pessimists, optimists believe everything will turn out fine.  They are able to do something no pessimist can: they do their part to make sure tomorrow will be better than today.  To subscribe to optimism means that you have a role in shaping your own future.  Why is this important?  Because it’s how stuff gets done.  No successful individual could conduct business with a set of pessimistic assumptions… Work, progress, great ideas, all are fueled by optimism.”

I agree.  I am an optimist.  I admit that in these days of economic uncertainty and crazy partisan politics it can be difficult being optimistic, but I choose to be relentlessly optimistic.  I believe every day is going to be a good day – and set about making it so.  I believe I will succeed in every project I undertake.  This optimism fuels my self-confidence, and my self-confidence drives my performance and my career success.  I never met him, but I bet Steve Jobs was a bigger optimist than me.

Tal Ben-Shahar teaches a course in Positive Psychology at Harvard.  He had 800 students in his course last year.  He offers the following three tips for becoming more optimistic:

1. Give yourself permission to be human – don’t beat up yourself about mistakes.
2. Express gratitude often.
3. Engage in activities that give your life pleasure as well as meaning.

Fear

Fear is the enemy of self-confidence and career success.  It’s also very normal.  We’re all afraid sometimes.  Usually it’s a fear of failure.  Fear can be debilitating, paralyzing us into inaction.  Over the years, I’ve found how to face up to my fears and to conquer them.  Indecision, procrastination and inaction feed fear.  Action cures it.

Here are my four easy steps for dealing with fear…

1. Identify what you fear.
2. Admit that you fear it.
3. Accept that you fear it.
4. Take action to deal with what you fear.

Positive People

Surround yourself with positive people – people who are both positive by nature, and positive about their life and career success. Positive people are optimistic – and as I’ve discussed above, optimism is the first step in building self-confidence.

Positive people help you feel good about yourself, because they feel good about themselves and life in general.  Positive people are there when you begin to doubt yourself.  They help you build your self-esteem because they have a strong sense of self-esteem.  People with a strong sense of self-esteem are not threatened by others.  They realize that self-esteem is not a fixed pie.  There is an unlimited amount of it to go around.  Therefore, you can build your self-confidence just by being around upbeat, positive people.

Identifying and building relationships with mentors is another way to build your self confidence.  Wikipedia defines a mentor as “a trusted friend, advisor, counselor or teacher; usually a more experienced person… Today mentors provide their expertise to less experienced individuals in order to help them advance their careers, enhance their education, and build their networks.”

Mentors are positive people by definition.  You cannot be willing to lend your wisdom and expertise to another person without being hopeful about that person and his or her future.

I have had several mentors over my career: Bert Phillips, Maggie Watson, Dick Pelton, Bill Rankin, Howard Sohn, were all trusted friends and advisors at one time or another in my career.  I believe that mentoring is so powerful that, as I turn 61, I am working with a great mentor, 20 years my junior. JT O’Donnell is helping me turn the intellectual property that I have developed over the past 35 years into products that can be sold on line.

Mentors challenge you to do better.  That’s why they are so important in building self-confidence.  As they challenge you, they are also telling you that “you can do it”.  Having someone who believes in you – like a mentor – is one of the best ways I know to build self-confidence and your life and career success.

The career success coach point here is simple common sense.  We all lost a good friend this week, Steve Jobs.  I began this post with a quote from George Bernard Shaw that applies to Steve Jobs.  I’d like to finish with another one.  “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world: the unreasonable one persists to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”  Steve Jobs was an unreasonable man – that’s why he is iconic, and the world is a better place for him having been in it.  He believed in himself and his ideas.   He was incredibly self confident.  All successful people are self-confident.  They understand and apply the career advice in Tweet 56 in Success Tweets.  “Self-confidence must come from within.  Outside reinforcement and strokes can help, but you have to build your own confidence.”  You can build your self-confidence by becoming an optimist, facing your fears and acting and surrounding yourself with positive people.  Self-confidence is an inside job.  You have to create it yourself.  But once you do, you’ll find that it’s an upward spiral.  Your confidence will inspire you to take on challenges.  Your success in dealing with these challenges will help you become more confident – which in turn, will allow you to take on and meet even greater challenges.  Just look at Steve Jobs and what he created at Apple.

That’s the career advice I found in the sad news about Steve Jobs’ passing.  What do you think?  Please take a minute to share your thoughts with us in a comment.  As always, thanks for reading my daily musings on life and career success.  I value you.  I appreciate you.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, please download a free copy of my popular career advice book Success Tweets and its companion piece Success Tweets Explained.  The first contains 140 bits of career success advice, all in 140 characters or less.  The second is a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.

PPS: I opened a membership site on September 1.  It’s called My Corporate Climb and is devoted to helping people create career success inside large corporations.  To celebrate the grand opening, I’m giving away a new career advice book I’ve written called I Want YOU…To Succeed in Your Corporate Climb.  You can find out about the membership site and get the career advice in I Want YOU… for free by going to http://www.mycorporateclimb.

If you read this career success blog with any regularity you know that I love SUCCESS Magazine.  I read it cover to cover as soon as I get it every month.  As usual, the September 2011 issue had some great career advice.  Check out what it had to say about honoring your mentors…

List three people who have contributed to your success.  Not jot down an idea for honoring each then – and do it!

I am a big believer in the power of mentoring.  Tweet 51 in my career success book Success Tweets says, “Find a mentor.  Mentors are positive people who will help you find the lessons in your experiences and use them to move forward.”

The term “mentor” comes from The Odyssey.  Odysseus entrusted the care of his son, Telemachus, to Mentor when he set out to fight the Trojan War — and as you know, he didn’t get back for quite a while!  The best mentors will help you learn and grow by sharing their knowledge and wisdom with you.  In this way, you can benefit from their experience without having to suffer the consequences of gaining that experience firsthand.

Mentors are positive people by definition.  It takes a positive person to give of himself or herself to help another learn, grow and succeed.

I have been fortunate to have had several mentors in my life and career.  All of them shared several characteristics.  They all…

• Were willing to share their wisdom, knowledge, skills and expertise.
• Had a positive outlook on life.  They helped me through tough times and showed me how to find the opportunity in the difficulties I was facing.
• Were genuinely concerned about me and my success.  In addition to being knowledgeable, they were empathic.
• Really knew what they were doing.  I respected them for their knowledge and skills.
• Kept growing themselves.  All of my mentors were curious and inquisitive.  Sometimes the roles were reversed.  They asked what I was reading, and then read the books themselves – so they could learn and we could discuss the ideas.
• Gave me direct, constructive feedback.  They held me to high standards.  They congratulated me when I met their expectations.  They corrected me when I failed to do so – but in a manner where I learned what not to do the next time.
• Were respected by their colleagues.  People who are highly regarded in their field or company make the best mentors.
• Sought out and valued the opinions of others.  My best mentor always told me to listen most carefully to the people with whom I disagreed – in that way I might learn something.  And, he was right.

As the old saying goes, a mentor is someone whose hindsight can become your foresight.  This is great career advice.

Do you want to find a mentor?  Just look around you.  Who are the people you admire and want to emulate?  Watch what they do, and do the same.  I’ve had several mentors who never even realized they were mentoring me.

I learned how to build a network of solid contacts by watching Maggie Watson.  I learned the rules of business etiquette and dressing for success by watching Bill Rankin.  I learned how to become a first-rate public speaker by watching Steve Roesler.  I learned how to become a trusted advisor by watching Don Nelson. I learned the importance of attention to detail by watching Howard Sohn.  I learned true courage by watching Sylvia Montero.  I learned how to carry myself with dignity in even the most difficult situations by watching JF and Carol Kiernan.  I learned how to become a better conversationalist by watching Cathy, my wife.  This blog post is one way I am honoring them.

The reverse is also true.  I’ve learned plenty about what not to do to build self-esteem, give performance feedback and treat people with respect and dignity from observing a few of my managers over the years.

I’ve found that if you want to have an acknowledged mentoring relationship, all you have to do is ask.  Go to the people you admire and tell them that you admire their judgment and would like to learn from them to build your career success.  Ask if you can impose on their time to get answers to questions you have.  I have never had anyone turn me down when I’ve asked this way.

Just as it’s important to find someone you respect to mentor you, it also important to mentor others.  You don’t have to be in a formal leadership position or have years and years of experience to mentor someone else.  It’s never too early to become a mentor.  We all have something to give, and the sooner you begin giving, the better.  If you’re in college, you can mentor high school students.  If you’re a recent graduate, you can mentor others still in school.  The best way to honor your mentors is to mentor others.

I take great joy in mentoring other people.  I love it when I can use my experience to help accelerate the growth of someone else and help them become a career sucess.  It takes the sting out of some of the negative consequences I’ve experienced because of poor judgment.  I think to myself, “At least he or she won’t have to go through that.”

In his great book, Love is the Killer App, Tim Sanders tells the story of how he turned one of the people who worked for him from a “mad dog” into a “lovecat.”  The advice is simple: “Offer your wisdom freely… And always be human.”

Tim is right on.  Mentoring is a great way to become a lovecat by serving others.  The more you serve others, the more confidence – and life and career success – will come your way.  Besides that, you’ll grow by mentoring.  As you reflect on your life experiences and distill them into some nuggets that you can share with others, your knowledge will become wisdom.  In addition to being better able to help others learn and grow, you will be better able to take advantage of what you know.  You never learn something so completely as when you teach it to another person.

Any mentoring relationship needs to focus on the person being mentored.  While mentoring someone will most often be a satisfying experience for you, remember that it is not about you – it’s about the other person.  Accept him or her for who he or she is.  Help him or her proceed at his or her own pace.  The best mentoring relationships are guided by the person being mentored.

Mentoring should be a positive experience for both of you.  That means that you need to avoid treating a person you are mentoring as incompetent or incapable.  Rather, think of him or her as someone lacking in experience and who needs guidance in order to create his or her career success.  Don’t criticize.  Help the other person think through the consequences of his or her behavior and to identify more positive ways of handling difficult or troubling situations.

Hold the person you are mentoring responsible for his or her career success.  Give him or her small assignments.  Don’t let him or her off the hook if he or she fails to complete them.  Be willing to give of yourself and your time, but make sure the other person is doing so, too.

Realize that the relationship will end.  If you’ve done a good job, the person you are mentoring will need to move on at some point.  It’s all part of the cycle.  It can be hard to let go, but feel good about seeing someone move on to bigger and better things – and another mentor.

I’ve created an acronym to define what it takes to become a good mentor.  A good mentor…

M Motivates you to accomplish more than you think you can.

E Expects the best of you.

N Never gives up on you or lets you give up on yourself.

T Tells you the truth, even when it hurts.

O Occasionally kicks your butt.

R Really cares about you and your success.

Look for people with these qualities when you are searching for a mentor.  Embody them yourself when you are mentoring others.

The career success coach point here is simple common sense.  Mentors can help you create the life and career success you want and deserve.  Successful people follow the career advice in Tweet 51 in Success Tweets.  “Find a mentor.  Mentors are positive people who will help you find the lessons in your experiences and use them to move forward.”  You can enter into a formal mentoring relationship.  Or you can just observe people you admire.  They can mentor you without even realizing that they are doing so.  And, it’s never too early to become a mentor yourself.  There is always someone who needs your career advice; someone who needs to know what you’ve already learned.  Be a positive person.  Help others achieve the life and career success they want and deserve and you’ll be helping your own career success.

That’s my career advice on mentoring.  What do you think?  Please take a minute to share your thoughts with us in a comment.  As always, thanks for reading my daily musings on life and career success.  I value you and I appreciate you.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, you can download a free copy of my latest career success book Success Tweets Explained.  It’s a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.

If you read this career success blog with any regularity you know that I love SUCCESS Magazine.  I read it cover to cover as soon as I get it every month.  As usual, the September 2011 issue had some great career advice.  Check out what it had to say about honoring your mentors…

List three people who have contributed to your success.  Not jot down an idea for honoring each then – and do it!

I am a big believer in the power of mentoring.  Tweet 51 in my career success book Success Tweets says, “Find a mentor.  Mentors are positive people who will help you find the lessons in your experiences and use them to move forward.”

The term “mentor” comes from The Odyssey.  Odysseus entrusted the care of his son, Telemachus, to Mentor when he set out to fight the Trojan War — and as you know, he didn’t get back for quite a while!  The best mentors will help you learn and grow by sharing their knowledge and wisdom with you.  In this way, you can benefit from their experience without having to suffer the consequences of gaining that experience firsthand.

Mentors are positive people by definition.  It takes a positive person to give of himself or herself to help another learn, grow and succeed.

I have been fortunate to have had several mentors in my life and career.  All of them shared several characteristics.  They all…

• Were willing to share their wisdom, knowledge, skills and expertise.
• Had a positive outlook on life.  They helped me through tough times and showed me how to find the opportunity in the difficulties I was facing.
• Were genuinely concerned about me and my success.  In addition to being knowledgeable, they were empathic.
• Really knew what they were doing.  I respected them for their knowledge and skills.
• Kept growing themselves.  All of my mentors were curious and inquisitive.  Sometimes the roles were reversed.  They asked what I was reading, and then read the books themselves – so they could learn and we could discuss the ideas.
• Gave me direct, constructive feedback.  They held me to high standards.  They congratulated me when I met their expectations.  They corrected me when I failed to do so – but in a manner where I learned what not to do the next time.
• Were respected by their colleagues.  People who are highly regarded in their field or company make the best mentors.
• Sought out and valued the opinions of others.  My best mentor always told me to listen most carefully to the people with whom I disagreed – in that way I might learn something.  And, he was right.

As the old saying goes, a mentor is someone whose hindsight can become your foresight.  This is great career advice.

Do you want to find a mentor?  Just look around you.  Who are the people you admire and want to emulate?  Watch what they do, and do the same.  I’ve had several mentors who never even realized they were mentoring me.

I learned how to build a network of solid contacts by watching Maggie Watson.  I learned the rules of business etiquette and dressing for success by watching Bill Rankin.  I learned how to become a first-rate public speaker by watching Steve Roesler.  I learned how to become a trusted advisor by watching Don Nelson. I learned the importance of attention to detail by watching Howard Sohn.  I learned true courage by watching Sylvia Montero.  I learned how to carry myself with dignity in even the most difficult situations by watching JF and Carol Kiernan.  I learned how to become a better conversationalist by watching Cathy, my wife.  This blog post is one way I am honoring them.

The reverse is also true.  I’ve learned plenty about what not to do to build self-esteem, give performance feedback and treat people with respect and dignity from observing a few of my managers over the years.

I’ve found that if you want to have an acknowledged mentoring relationship, all you have to do is ask.  Go to the people you admire and tell them that you admire their judgment and would like to learn from them to build your career success.  Ask if you can impose on their time to get answers to questions you have.  I have never had anyone turn me down when I’ve asked this way.

Just as it’s important to find someone you respect to mentor you, it also important to mentor others.  You don’t have to be in a formal leadership position or have years and years of experience to mentor someone else.  It’s never too early to become a mentor.  We all have something to give, and the sooner you begin giving, the better.  If you’re in college, you can mentor high school students.  If you’re a recent graduate, you can mentor others still in school.  The best way to honor your mentors is to mentor others.

I take great joy in mentoring other people.  I love it when I can use my experience to help accelerate the growth of someone else and help them become a career sucess.  It takes the sting out of some of the negative consequences I’ve experienced because of poor judgment.  I think to myself, “At least he or she won’t have to go through that.”

In his great book, Love is the Killer App, Tim Sanders tells the story of how he turned one of the people who worked for him from a “mad dog” into a “lovecat.”  The advice is simple: “Offer your wisdom freely… And always be human.”

Tim is right on.  Mentoring is a great way to become a lovecat by serving others.  The more you serve others, the more confidence – and life and career success – will come your way.  Besides that, you’ll grow by mentoring.  As you reflect on your life experiences and distill them into some nuggets that you can share with others, your knowledge will become wisdom.  In addition to being better able to help others learn and grow, you will be better able to take advantage of what you know.  You never learn something so completely as when you teach it to another person.

Any mentoring relationship needs to focus on the person being mentored.  While mentoring someone will most often be a satisfying experience for you, remember that it is not about you – it’s about the other person.  Accept him or her for who he or she is.  Help him or her proceed at his or her own pace.  The best mentoring relationships are guided by the person being mentored.

Mentoring should be a positive experience for both of you.  That means that you need to avoid treating a person you are mentoring as incompetent or incapable.  Rather, think of him or her as someone lacking in experience and who needs guidance in order to create his or her career success.  Don’t criticize.  Help the other person think through the consequences of his or her behavior and to identify more positive ways of handling difficult or troubling situations.

Hold the person you are mentoring responsible for his or her career success.  Give him or her small assignments.  Don’t let him or her off the hook if he or she fails to complete them.  Be willing to give of yourself and your time, but make sure the other person is doing so, too.

Realize that the relationship will end.  If you’ve done a good job, the person you are mentoring will need to move on at some point.  It’s all part of the cycle.  It can be hard to let go, but feel good about seeing someone move on to bigger and better things – and another mentor.

I’ve created an acronym to define what it takes to become a good mentor.  A good mentor…

M Motivates you to accomplish more than you think you can.

E Expects the best of you.

N Never gives up on you or lets you give up on yourself.

T Tells you the truth, even when it hurts.

O Occasionally kicks your butt.

R Really cares about you and your success.

Look for people with these qualities when you are searching for a mentor.  Embody them yourself when you are mentoring others.

The career success coach point here is simple common sense.  Mentors can help you create the life and career success you want and deserve.  Successful people follow the career advice in Tweet 51 in Success Tweets.  “Find a mentor.  Mentors are positive people who will help you find the lessons in your experiences and use them to move forward.”  You can enter into a formal mentoring relationship.  Or you can just observe people you admire.  They can mentor you without even realizing that they are doing so.  And, it’s never too early to become a mentor yourself.  There is always someone who needs your career advice; someone who needs to know what you’ve already learned.  Be a positive person.  Help others achieve the life and career success they want and deserve and you’ll be helping your own career success.

That’s my career advice on mentoring.  What do you think?  Please take a minute to share your thoughts with us in a comment.  As always, thanks for reading my daily musings on life and career success.  I value you and I appreciate you.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, you can download a free copy of my latest career success book Success Tweets Explained.  It’s a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.

In this post I want to share some important career advice – take advantage of all of the resources available to you.  Find mini mentors to help you with specific problems, issues or concerns.

Last week I had a technical problem.  I recorded a video using Camtasia.  But I couldn’t get it up on the web.  I was told that I needed to convert the Camtasia video into an mp4 format.  I spent a couple of days trying to figure it out on my own and asking people who often help me for their advice – no luck.

Then I realized that I knew someone who could help me.  Tarek Chacra runs a company called Media Dynamics here in Denver.  He produces high quality video products.  I called Tarek and explained the problem.  He invited me to his office/studio.  I packed up my laptop with the Camtasia video and went over to see him.  It took about 30 minutes for Tarek to convert the video into an mp4 format and another 15 to show me how to do it in the future.

Tarek was the perfect person to help me with this problem.  I’m not sure why I didn’t think of him first.  And that’s the career advice I want you to take from this post.  Keep a list – in your head, on paper, or on your computer of the people to whom you can turn for needed advice.  These people are your mini-mentors.  They can help you at key times when you’re struggling with something you can’t do on your own.

Tweet 51 in my career success book Success Tweets says, “Find a mentor.  Mentors are positive people who will help you find the lessons in your experiences and use them to move forward.”  Many people think that they need to find the one mentor who can help them with all of their career success questions.

I think it is just the opposite.  I suggest that you develop mini mentoring relationships with a variety of people.  I’m a good example of this.  I learned how to build a network of solid contacts from Maggie Watson.  I learned the rules of business etiquette and dressing for success from Bill Rankin.  I learned how to become a first-rate public speaker by watching Steve Roesler.  I learned how to become a trusted advisor by working with Don Nelson.  I learned how to carry myself with dignity in even the most difficult situations by watching JF and Carol Kiernan.  I learned how to become a better conversationalist by watching Cathy, my wife.

And now, I’ve learned how to do some basic video production for the internet by working with Tarek Chacra.  The biggest piece of career success advice here is simple common sense.  Help is all around you.  All you have to do is ask.

Some people are better than others to ask.  As I mentioned above, I have been fortunate to have had several mentors in my life and career.  All of them shared several characteristics.  They all…

• Were willing to share their wisdom, knowledge, skills and expertise.
• Had a positive outlook on life.  They helped me through tough times and showed me how to find the opportunity in the difficulties I was facing.
• Were genuinely concerned about me and my success.  In addition to being knowledgeable, they were empathic.
• Really knew what they were doing.  I respected them for their knowledge and skills.
• Kept growing themselves.  All of my mentors were curious and inquisitive.  Sometimes the roles were reversed.  They asked what I was reading, and then read the books themselves – so they could learn and we could discuss the ideas.
• Gave me direct, constructive feedback.  They held me to high standards.  They congratulated me when I met their expectations.  They corrected me when I failed to do so – but in a manner where I learned what not to do the next time.
• Were respected by their colleagues.  People who are highly regarded in their field and their company make the best mentors.
• Sought out and valued the opinions of others.  My best mentor always told me to listen most carefully to the people with whom I disagreed – in that way I might learn something.  And, he was right.

These are the qualities you want to look for whether you are searching for a mentor or a mini mentor.

The career success coach point here is simple common sense.  We all need help in our journey to life and career success.  Mentors can be a great help.  Sometimes you may need a mentor who can look after you and shepherd you along in your journey to life and career success.  Other times you may need to work with mini-mentors, people who can help you with a specific problem or issue.  Last week, Tarek Chacra served as a mini-mentor for me.  He solved an internet video problem I had and gave me some great advice on how to do internet video production.  Who are the people you know who have specific skills that you may need in your journey to the career success you deserve?  Make a list.  Build relationships with these people, so you can call on them when you need to.  More important, pay it forward, become a mini-mentor for these folks.  I’m sure you know things and have skills in areas where they need help.  Most mini-mentoring relationships are reciprocal, that’s the great thing about them.

That’s my career advice on the importance of mini-mentors.  What do you think?  Please take a minute to share your thoughts with us in a comment.  As always, thanks for reading my daily thoughts on life and career success.  I really appreciate you.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, you can download a free copy of my latest career success book Success Tweets Explained.  It’s a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.

In this post I want to share some important career advice – take advantage of all of the resources available to you.  Find mini mentors to help you with specific problems, issues or concerns.

Last week I had a technical problem.  I recorded a video using Camtasia.  But I couldn’t get it up on the web.  I was told that I needed to convert the Camtasia video into an mp4 format.  I spent a couple of days trying to figure it out on my own and asking people who often help me for their advice – no luck.

Then I realized that I knew someone who could help me.  Tarek Chacra runs a company called Media Dynamics here in Denver.  He produces high quality video products.  I called Tarek and explained the problem.  He invited me to his office/studio.  I packed up my laptop with the Camtasia video and went over to see him.  It took about 30 minutes for Tarek to convert the video into an mp4 format and another 15 to show me how to do it in the future.

Tarek was the perfect person to help me with this problem.  I’m not sure why I didn’t think of him first.  And that’s the career advice I want you to take from this post.  Keep a list – in your head, on paper, or on your computer of the people to whom you can turn for needed advice.  These people are your mini-mentors.  They can help you at key times when you’re struggling with something you can’t do on your own.

Tweet 51 in my career success book Success Tweets says, “Find a mentor.  Mentors are positive people who will help you find the lessons in your experiences and use them to move forward.”  Many people think that they need to find the one mentor who can help them with all of their career success questions.

I think it is just the opposite.  I suggest that you develop mini mentoring relationships with a variety of people.  I’m a good example of this.  I learned how to build a network of solid contacts from Maggie Watson.  I learned the rules of business etiquette and dressing for success from Bill Rankin.  I learned how to become a first-rate public speaker by watching Steve Roesler.  I learned how to become a trusted advisor by working with Don Nelson.  I learned how to carry myself with dignity in even the most difficult situations by watching JF and Carol Kiernan.  I learned how to become a better conversationalist by watching Cathy, my wife.

And now, I’ve learned how to do some basic video production for the internet by working with Tarek Chacra.  The biggest piece of career success advice here is simple common sense.  Help is all around you.  All you have to do is ask.

Some people are better than others to ask.  As I mentioned above, I have been fortunate to have had several mentors in my life and career.  All of them shared several characteristics.  They all…

• Were willing to share their wisdom, knowledge, skills and expertise.
• Had a positive outlook on life.  They helped me through tough times and showed me how to find the opportunity in the difficulties I was facing.
• Were genuinely concerned about me and my success.  In addition to being knowledgeable, they were empathic.
• Really knew what they were doing.  I respected them for their knowledge and skills.
• Kept growing themselves.  All of my mentors were curious and inquisitive.  Sometimes the roles were reversed.  They asked what I was reading, and then read the books themselves – so they could learn and we could discuss the ideas.
• Gave me direct, constructive feedback.  They held me to high standards.  They congratulated me when I met their expectations.  They corrected me when I failed to do so – but in a manner where I learned what not to do the next time.
• Were respected by their colleagues.  People who are highly regarded in their field and their company make the best mentors.
• Sought out and valued the opinions of others.  My best mentor always told me to listen most carefully to the people with whom I disagreed – in that way I might learn something.  And, he was right.

These are the qualities you want to look for whether you are searching for a mentor or a mini mentor.

The career success coach point here is simple common sense.  We all need help in our journey to life and career success.  Mentors can be a great help.  Sometimes you may need a mentor who can look after you and shepherd you along in your journey to life and career success.  Other times you may need to work with mini-mentors, people who can help you with a specific problem or issue.  Last week, Tarek Chacra served as a mini-mentor for me.  He solved an internet video problem I had and gave me some great advice on how to do internet video production.  Who are the people you know who have specific skills that you may need in your journey to the career success you deserve?  Make a list.  Build relationships with these people, so you can call on them when you need to.  More important, pay it forward, become a mini-mentor for these folks.  I’m sure you know things and have skills in areas where they need help.  Most mini-mentoring relationships are reciprocal, that’s the great thing about them.

That’s my career advice on the importance of mini-mentors.  What do you think?  Please take a minute to share your thoughts with us in a comment.  As always, thanks for reading my daily thoughts on life and career success.  I really appreciate you.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, you can download a free copy of my latest career success book Success Tweets Explained.  It’s a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.

I did a blog post last week about an article I saw in the July 2011 issue of SUCCESS Magazine providng some great career advice on the importance of being a learner.  I followed that up with another post on learning yesterday.  As you know, I love SUCCESS, and I encourage everyone I know to subscribe at http://www.success.com.

I found some more career advice in that same issue that I would like to pass on here.  Check it out…

“Connect with a power partner to stay focused on your goals.  How do you find a power partner?  Look for a colleague or friend who:

1. Lives out similar values and priorities as you.
2. Understands what’s necessary to make you and your business profitable.
3. Is focused on improving his or her business.
4. Cares about you enough to hold you accountable for your word.”

I have found a great power partner in J.T. O’Donnell.  J.T. runs two really cool career success sites: www.Careerealism, and www.CareerHMO.  I met J.T. a while back when I became a Careerealism approved expert.  I’ve found that I have a lot in common with her.  When I told her that I was considering creating a membership site to provide laser focused career success coaching to folks who want to go one step beyond what they read on my blog, she immediately offered to help.

I’m happy to say that my membership site, “My Corporate Climb” will be launching very soon.  My Corporate Climb is a membership site devoted to helping people create career success inside a corporation.  J.T. has really helped me with this site.  She exemplifies the four characteristics of a power partner.

1) J.T. and I are both in business.  We want to make a profit.  But both she and I are really interested in and passionate about helping people create the life and career success they want and deserve.  We have the same values and priorities.

2) J.T. understands how to set up and operate a membership site.  She has taught me a lot about the best way to get my ideas on life and career success in front of the most people in the most economical way.  While she is way more than 20 years my junior, she is a true mentor for me.

3) J.T. is focused on improving her business.  She is always trying something new.  She is actively engaged in finding the best ways to make her content available to the most people possible.

4) Finally, J.T. keeps me on my toes.  We speak regularly and she lets me know if I’m delinquent or tardy in getting her information she needs to help me get my membership site up and running.  She holds my feet to the fire and gets me off the dime when I am procrastinating.

Who is your J.T. – your power partner?  If you have one, good for you.  Meet with him or her once a week for 30 minutes to an hour.  If you don’t have a power partner find one.

A while back I created an acronym for the word “mentor.”  This is the kind of person you need to look for as a power partner….

M Motivates you to accomplish more than you think you can.

E Expects the best of you.

N Never gives up on you or lets you give up on yourself.

T Tells you the truth, even when it hurts.

O Occasionally kicks your butt.

R Really cares about you and your success.

Look for people with these qualities when you are searching for a power partner.  Embody them yourself when you are acting as a power partner for others.

The career success coach point here is simple common sense.  Power partners can help keep you moving in the direction of your career success dreams and help you create the life and career success you want and deserve.  To my way of thinking, power partnerships are reciprocal mentoring relationships.  The career advice in Tweet 51 in Success Tweets applies here.  “Find a mentor.  Mentors are positive people who will help you find the lessons in your experiences and use them to move forward.”  A power partner relationship, like the one I have with J.T. O’Donnell, is to move your drive toward your life and career success forward.  And, power partnerships are great because they are reciprocal mentoring relationships.  You both give help and get help.  Be a positive person.  Become a power partner.  Help yourself and others achieve the life and career success they want and deserve.

That’s my career advice on power partnerships.  What do you think?  Please take a minute to share your thoughts with us in a comment.  As always, thanks for reading my daily thoughts on life and career success.  I value you and I appreciate you.  I hope you think of me as a power partner who is helping you create the life and career success you want and deserve.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, you can download a free copy of my latest career success book Success Tweets Explained.  It’s a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.

I did a blog post last week about an article I saw in the July 2011 issue of SUCCESS Magazine providng some great career advice on the importance of being a learner.  I followed that up with another post on learning yesterday.  As you know, I love SUCCESS, and I encourage everyone I know to subscribe at http://www.success.com.

I found some more career advice in that same issue that I would like to pass on here.  Check it out…

“Connect with a power partner to stay focused on your goals.  How do you find a power partner?  Look for a colleague or friend who:

1. Lives out similar values and priorities as you.
2. Understands what’s necessary to make you and your business profitable.
3. Is focused on improving his or her business.
4. Cares about you enough to hold you accountable for your word.”

I have found a great power partner in J.T. O’Donnell.  J.T. runs two really cool career success sites: www.Careerealism, and www.CareerHMO.  I met J.T. a while back when I became a Careerealism approved expert.  I’ve found that I have a lot in common with her.  When I told her that I was considering creating a membership site to provide laser focused career success coaching to folks who want to go one step beyond what they read on my blog, she immediately offered to help.

I’m happy to say that my membership site, “My Corporate Climb” will be launching very soon.  My Corporate Climb is a membership site devoted to helping people create career success inside a corporation.  J.T. has really helped me with this site.  She exemplifies the four characteristics of a power partner.

1) J.T. and I are both in business.  We want to make a profit.  But both she and I are really interested in and passionate about helping people create the life and career success they want and deserve.  We have the same values and priorities.

2) J.T. understands how to set up and operate a membership site.  She has taught me a lot about the best way to get my ideas on life and career success in front of the most people in the most economical way.  While she is way more than 20 years my junior, she is a true mentor for me.

3) J.T. is focused on improving her business.  She is always trying something new.  She is actively engaged in finding the best ways to make her content available to the most people possible.

4) Finally, J.T. keeps me on my toes.  We speak regularly and she lets me know if I’m delinquent or tardy in getting her information she needs to help me get my membership site up and running.  She holds my feet to the fire and gets me off the dime when I am procrastinating.

Who is your J.T. – your power partner?  If you have one, good for you.  Meet with him or her once a week for 30 minutes to an hour.  If you don’t have a power partner find one.

A while back I created an acronym for the word “mentor.”  This is the kind of person you need to look for as a power partner….

M Motivates you to accomplish more than you think you can.

E Expects the best of you.

N Never gives up on you or lets you give up on yourself.

T Tells you the truth, even when it hurts.

O Occasionally kicks your butt.

R Really cares about you and your success.

Look for people with these qualities when you are searching for a power partner.  Embody them yourself when you are acting as a power partner for others.

The career success coach point here is simple common sense.  Power partners can help keep you moving in the direction of your career success dreams and help you create the life and career success you want and deserve.  To my way of thinking, power partnerships are reciprocal mentoring relationships.  The career advice in Tweet 51 in Success Tweets applies here.  “Find a mentor.  Mentors are positive people who will help you find the lessons in your experiences and use them to move forward.”  A power partner relationship, like the one I have with J.T. O’Donnell, is to move your drive toward your life and career success forward.  And, power partnerships are great because they are reciprocal mentoring relationships.  You both give help and get help.  Be a positive person.  Become a power partner.  Help yourself and others achieve the life and career success they want and deserve.

That’s my career advice on power partnerships.  What do you think?  Please take a minute to share your thoughts with us in a comment.  As always, thanks for reading my daily thoughts on life and career success.  I value you and I appreciate you.  I hope you think of me as a power partner who is helping you create the life and career success you want and deserve.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, you can download a free copy of my latest career success book Success Tweets Explained.  It’s a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.