hi.

Thanks for contributing.

I am a managing director of an interactive agency in Asia. I have recently moved from an agency ranked no.1 by Ad Age Interactive to a another agency, ranked no.50.

Why the move? Money. Greater responsibilities. Exciting promise. Better package.

However... after being in the role for almost 6 months. I am understaff (because the company won't invest), worked my arse off 16 hours a day from new business, project management, account servicing, etc. I thought of moving on again otherwise I will burn-out pretty soon.

I am high achiever, and extremely competitive and I am only 26 years old. I am looking for a mentor that will be able to assist me to redefine my career path.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Chris

-- (thinker@now.com), November 10, 2000

Answers

A paid mentor is called a consultant and that isn't a sure road, you may feel that you have drawn benefit from that type of relationship but it is sometimes only as good as the dollar and in a few cases return your were you started from.

The harder way is the better way, which is rise above your competitive spirit and look around you at people whose advice is meaningful to you. Intelligent CEO's and Managing Directors know when someone is reeling them in, because a great mentor challenges their business view enough that they start to see the holes and problem points in their thinking. A great mentor can question with relevance and doesn't do your work for you, you still have to do that part, but they present clear cut business questions. When you are absolutely stuck for an answer, they will prompt you in a direction but that nudge doesn't mean that's where you are going to go, it merely opens up a new set of possiblities.

Why does this happen? Because your mind tells you that this is good for you, that you stand to benefit and it happens because you give the time to let it happen. Otherwise you are back on the 16 hour treadmill, thinking that an hour is a wasted hour if you are not constantly running on it. The great mentor therefore doesn't open the door of your mind, she or he gives you the permission to open it yourself. She or he also only throws in their hat when you are absolutely at an impasse to help you along and a great mentor will let you struggle with a question.

If you think mentorship means no work on your part, no pain on your part or no struggle on your part, you are looking in my opinion at an advisor rather than a mentor. This version of mentoring is how I see as mentoring, the one I feel fulfills the value and power of mentoring. Fast Company or mentoring organizations or professionals may see it totally different, but yet again IMHO if the relationship isnBt personal and if it isn't long lasting (enough time as the relationship needs) its is advising, not mentoring.

Yet it comes down to this, those people are hard to find. In a sport like boxing they are much easier to find, Sugar Shane Mosely and Roy Jones Jr. both have mentors/trainers who are related to them,because who best knows you other than people inside your own family, but that doesn't mean that family make the best mentors, it is the quality of the relationship that you respect and in these cases, both boxers have family members who have been through their own boxing experience.

You can help yourself in the short term by ensuring that your competitive spirit is checked with your spirit to be a high achiever. Remember those two things are not necessarily the same thing, you can have a strong competitive spirit but not be a high achiever because your striving too hard. The most important one of those two spirits is being a high achiever and sometimes you achieve more by tempering or restraining the competitive spirit. In order to claw back time to do the one thing that right now your going to be finding very hard to do - that is to think.

The reason I am out here in dialogue here isn't because I am just a wonderful loving guy, I am tempering my competitive spirit, and in trying to find the time to think for you, I am finding the time to think for myself.

M.

"To be or not to be that is the question" A quote by Willy Shakes. M Profile at: http://www.fastcompany.com/fasttalk/replypost.html? p=9738

Mantra of M:"Life is about Private Relations not Public Relations"

-- Mark Zorro (zorromark@consultant.com), November 11, 2000.

Chris, read this:

http://www.fastcompany.com/online/41/righttrack.html

-- Mark Zorro (zorromark@consultant.com), November 13, 2000.

Hi Chris, I think I appreciate what you say - I often find myself frustrated because I try to pick BIG challenges and I try to make the impossible happen, but people around me are usually unmoved. They think act and behave like the earth's moving in Slo-mo. I haven't mastered the act as yet, but I believe that we need to identify exactly who stands to gain by the changes we are trying to bring about. And second, who holds the key to the resources that will make it happen. Sometimes the two are the same, in which case the task is a wee bit easier. Otherwise its a juggle, to reward those who's help we need and to get rewarded by those who are benefitting from our 16 hour days. And all this is a congruent timespan. But clarity about these 2 stakeholders in our change mission lets you get onto the next question of how to negotiate with them. FYI, I head a small consulting team on Digital Strategy Consulting as a part of an Internet Professional Services firm based out of Bangalore in India.

-- Ved Sen (Veds@planetasia.com), November 15, 2000.