Mentor

This is an article from the Deseret News on 3 Jan. 2012.

Guidelines on choosing a mentor.

By Timothy R. Clark

"A mentor is someone who provides three essential things that accelerate the growth and development of an individual: (1) guidance, (2) encouragement and (3) correction.

We can obtain these things from many people, but mentors are the ones with whom we develop a special bond.  They are the ones who take a personal interest and see potential in us when we may not see it ourselves.

Mentors are informally and unofficially designated.  Sometimes, they choose us.  Sometimes, we choose them.  Most mentor-protege relationships develop naturally.  It tends to happen when both parties sense mutual benefit and mutual interest in cultivating a personal relationship.

It's like a friendship.  But there's a role difference.  A friendship is generally a peer-to-peer, reciprocal arrangement.  A mentor-protege relationship is a hierarchical arrangement in which the mentor tacitly agrees to provide guidance, encouragement and correction in exchange for a  good faith effort to act on that contribution.

The relationship is never intended to be fully reciprocal; the protege or mentee by definition of the role has less to offer in return.  Yet rich compensation flows to both parties.  The mentor is compensated through the resulting character development.  The mentee is compensated by the in-kind value of the guidance, encouragement, and correction given.  Undergirding the terms of engagement is the unwritten rule that the mentor will at some point in the future pay it forward by mentoring someone else who needs help.....

How do you pick a mentor?

First, find someone with whom you already have some association.  Second, find someone with high integrity. Third, find someone with widely regarded expertise in an area in which you can benefit.  Finally, find someone who shows a personal interest in you and your development. 

Here's the last step:  Ask for help.  Don't ask someone to be a mentor; ask them to make the contribution of a mentor.  Then see how they respond.

A final word to leaders of all stripes: In addition to your formal responsibilities, seek out someone to mentor.

There are many people in the world who need someone to believe in them until they can find the confidence to believe in themselves. 

Pay it forward and remember Dickin's immortal words in the character of Jacob Marley: 'Mankind was my business.  The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business.'"

I would like to take a few words and publically thank some of the outstanding mentors in my life:

Both of my outstanding parents, Don and Janet Summit;

My grandparents, Vern and Nancy Ashcroft;

Kelly Hansen: who has helped me more than anyone besides my parents.  Kelly has taught me in several classes: TJYC Prep, Shakespeare Conquest, Dragon Scholars.  She has taught me a lot about scholarship, and she is the mother of my best friend;

Heather Hansen: for allowing me a chance to try to help mentor teenagers.  This has been an awesome opportunity.  I've lead several discussions, on the book And There Was Light, and also Martin Luther's defense at the Diet of Wyrms.  Helping this class has helped me gain valuable experience in teaching, which is where I want to earn my living as an adult;

Rachel Burgess: for helping Kelly Hansen teach TJYC Prep;

Jared Parker: for helping me grow up to be a man.  He was my teacher's quorum adviser with my dad.  He took us on trips in the Wind River Mountains for our annual scouting High Adventure Camp.  We had to pack all of our stuff in for 13 miles.  We spent our weeks hiking, bare back riding, and fishing.