I was recently asked, “Would you consider being my mentor?” I get asked that often, usually it’s a college age student. “I want to be someone’s mentor!” is often said to me by someone I’m interviewing or a young eager employee. And I get why. I mean, google “mentor” – who in the hell wouldn’t want one of these people in your life, and what a compliment to be thought of as one.

But the reality?

No one can bear this much responsibility. And even if they could, if they had the time coupled with the will and the skill, this is a set up for failure. One person could never fully offer this to another, you would ultimately always be disappointed. I wanted to dig on this idea further, so I called some friends who sit in C-suites at some positions, those that have arguably “made it”. And I asked if their companies have formal mentoring programs, if they’ve been mentors to others in a formal capacity, and who do they consider the mentors in their life?

I think instead of a whole being, a mentor is going to looks more like a Lego piece. And of course, a Lego piece on its own doesn’t say anything, but together they build something – or at a minimum, get you on our way to creating something great. I share my thoughts on this here.