Why a Mentor Can Be the Difference Between Success and Failure

A great mentor shapes a leader and gives them the critical tools to succeed…

I’ve been thinking about writing on this subject for a long time and was finally inspired by an article I read by Armando Romeo about the importance of a founder being teachable, which is something I 100% support. I think I’d extend that to all great business leaders, not just founders.

But why it inspired me, was the reminder that whilst that is a great personality trait, it is wasted unless you can find a great mentor to learn from. I’ve been fortunate to have a couple in my time and they have shaped me as a leader and I continue to take advice from them, over 10 years since I first met them. Let me explain what they have done for me and why a mentor can be so vital to your success or failure as a business leader.

One disclaimer upfront — I’m not planning to disclose the name of my mentors, both wouldn’t appreciate it (modest types) and that’s not what this is about, it’s not about the individuals but the things they can provide.

Strong Leadership

I’ll talk about my second mentor first, as they are more obvious and easier to explain. I was a hungry and relatively successful client success director, managing a department and delivering great results. I wanted more but wasn’t sure how I was going to achieve that and how to articulate my ambition.

I then began working directly for a very experienced director, who had bought and sold various businesses and was incredibly focused and smart. We bonded very quickly and I was able to begin learning what it meant to be an actual leader.

The difference between a leader and a manager is the biggest lesson you need to learn to run a business

I cannot overstate the difference between being in charge and leading. One is about making things happen, the other about inspiring them. One is about getting the job done, one about looking ahead to the future job.

Very early on I remember feeling I was succeeding with the greater responsibility I was given. I was hitting my numbers and I ensuring my team was delivering its objectives. My mentor simply said one thing that changed my mindset completely.

I expected you to do your job well, what I was hoping is that you’d inspire and help other teams to do better

This took me by surprise and I started with the usual excuses that I’ve heard from others over the years — I don’t have the authority to make change; manager X won’t listen to me; I don’t have a budget to influence others. I then listened as he systematically ripped apart all my arguments and gave me examples of how they were just excuses.

A Strong Mentor

It was a fantastic example of what a great mentor can do. Within one meeting my mindset had completely changed on how I needed to behave to be a leader. He didn’t specifically tell me what must change, he certainly didn’t sugar coat what I WASN’T doing, but he articulated what was possible and showed a different way, with examples of how it can work and what he’d done before. And that is what a great mentor does for you

• Shares experiences so you avoid mistakes
• Challenge you to be better than you are
• Positions you to be doing your next job
• Doesn’t accept excuses
• Listens to your ideas, encourages you to try new things
• Inspires you to be better

Inspirational Mentor

A lot of the above you could say is the job of your boss, but a mentor is so much more than that. A boss CAN be a mentor, but a mentor doesn’t have to be your boss. And the best way to illustrate this is via my other mentor, someone that was never my boss, that I was never particularly close to or even regularly talked to, but he has been what I call an ‘inspiration mentor’.

This inspirational mentor was the person that challenged me that you should be brave and try to strive for things you will probably fail at. He encouraged me to do new things, even just to try them. He was very direct when I didn’t get things right. Frankly, at times I didn’t like him, but I respected him.

But he has also given me some of the best compliments and inspired me more than anyone else. This type of mentor is harder to find and doesn’t work for everyone, but if you are lucky enough to find one and are prepared for the challenge, they will push you to be the best person you can be.

He also happens to be one of the smartest people I’ve ever met. Sharp, a quick learner and decisive.

And I think that’s the final point I’d like to leave you with. I think what you get from a mentor that you desperately need to lead a business is the ability to make decisions. What both of my mentors have taught me about decision making, has made me as a leader

• Use the information at hand to make a decision
• Trust in yourself, you are the leader for a reason
• When you make a decision, be brave to run with it
• But don’t be arrogant. Be open to challenge
• Be prepared to change your mind

I’ve read hundreds of articles that all tell you to stick with something when you decide on it. That this is decisive leadership. It’s not. what it is, is strong management. Leadership is taking the best and LATEST information and if that means you need to change direction, then a good leader will do just that.

This is what my great mentors taught me. It would be great to hear about your mentors and what they taught you.