Mentoring isn’t new. What is new is that it’s more important as a career tool for senior managers than it was in the past.
The old theory about mentoring was that it was a stage you went through and eventually outgrew as your career advanced. This is no longer true. At the higher rungs of the corporate ladder, career paths are more complicated, pointing up the benefits of either having a mentor or acting as one.
Realizing the importance of mentoring, a number of prominent companies (Johnson & Johnson, Merrill Lynch, Bell Labs, National Cash Register) have established formal mentoring programs. Bright managerial prospects are assigned a mentor rather than having them go through the accidental, often serendipitous, process of finding one on their own. ..more
