January is National Mentoring month – Here’s out top 4 list of dream mentors for women in business
The National Mentoring partnership has a GREAT web site to help you get up to speed on mentoring and take advantage of the rewards and benefits it can add to your life. According to their web site The NMP was…
Created in 2002 by the Harvard School of Public Health and MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership, National Mentoring Month focuses national attention on the need for mentors, as well as how each of us—individuals, businesses, government agencies, schools, faith communities and nonprofits—can work together to increase the number of mentors to assure brighter futures for our young people.
As in years past, the Harvard School of Public Health is working with the national media to heighten awareness of mentoring and prompt individuals to volunteer to mentor. At the same time, MENTOR is working with the NMM campaign’s local partners, who are organizing special NMM events in their communities with numerous partners, including their local media. These events help interested adults learn how to turn their concern for young people into direct action by becoming mentors. The Corporation for National and Community Service, a NMM partner since 2006, promotes the month to its vast network of Senior Corps, AmeriCorps and Learn and Serve America grantees and highlights mentoring during its annual Martin Luther King Day of Service event.
NMM celebrates mentoring and the positive effect it can have on young lives.
On its web site’s front page it lists 10 ways to get engaged in Mentoring – in a feature on a Mid Atlantic region young executive we cited four of our favorites out of their list of ten options. Click here to read that.
One of the constants we’ve noticed in interviewing literally hundreds (if not thousands of successful women business owners, entrepreneurs and professionals) is that many of them have had great mentors or chosen to mentor themselves. With that in mind – we thought we’d compile this list of our picks for dream mentors (if we could choose anyone with no limitations) for women in business.
This is who we thought would be the top 4 of mentors for women in business and women entrepreneurs if they could pick anyone and why.
1. Oprah Winfrey – Successful philanthropist, business magnate, media mogul and all around pretty great example. We picked Oprah as our #1 because she’s overcome adversity and constantly evolved her brand “Oprah” and her business to have greater impact and truly change people’s lives both tangibly and from afar. Wouldn’t it be awesome to tap Oprah as your dream mentor to show you how to build a killer brand and multi-ply it’s returns and positive effects on your desired clients or audience?
2. Christine Lagarde – The Parisian born Lagarde is head (and has been since 2011) of the influential and highly watched IMF – International Monetary Fund. We feel she makes a commendable dream mentor because she is one who has seen many “firsts” in her illustrious and far reaching career. We picked Christine because we feel she would make an excellent mentor if you’re looking for guidance to go where no woman has trodden prior, and how to excel at it not to mention some savvy about international finance while you’re at it.
3. Mary Kay Ash – OK – so this choice would require a medium, as unfortunately Mary Kay passed away in 2001. Nevertheless, we feel the pink Cadillac driving and pink lipstick hawking multi-millionaire entrepreneur would probably our top pick for whom to learn from in terms of mastering sales and business development. She started with $5k as an initial investment but grew Mary Kay Cosmetics into an over $2 Billion dollar business by the time of her death.
4. JK Rowling – An author might seem a strange choice for a dream business mentor but we feel that JK – aka Joanne “Jo” Rowling – the uber accomplished and successful creator of the highly popular and incredibly lucrative “Harry Potter” stories deserves her place here. After all – who couldn’t be inspired from a mentor who was totally broke and yet believed in herself and kept at it, despite all indicators pointing to her writing being a folly and a dead end? We choose JK for a few reasons – one because we feel she is an awesome dream mentor to show us how to be “fearless” and “believe in ourselves” but also to have the courage to pursue a passion and your story even if it doesn’t always seem like the path that makes sense.
Hopefully this list of dream mentors has inspired you – and given you something to smile about. On a serious note, January is National Mentoring month – with that in mind, we encourage you to give thought to the gifts, the advice, the information and wisdom YOU could share as a mentor with someone who would greatly benefit.
If you have some other suggestions for great women in business dream mentors – please add them to the comments. We look forward to hearing your thoughts and we wish you every continued success!