What I've Learned Over a Career of Paying it Forward

Mentoring is a leadership mindset that can help the organization, in addition to the individuals. Mentoring has been a defining force throughout my career, and a core part of how I operate. Great leaders develop people, great teams are built on shared growth, and great workplaces thrive when individuals at every level are encouraged to learn, stretch, and realize their potential. Mentoring fuels all of that by strengthening both the mentee and the mentor, multiplying the impact they can have across the organization. My own mentoring journey started early. I was part of the Menttium—a Minneapolis-based global women's leadership network—inaugural class of mentees in 1991, and the experience fundamentally shaped how I think about talent and leadership. Since then, I've spent 25+ years giving back as a mentor, formally and informally, while continuing to grow with others' guidance. Through all of it, I've come to see development as ongoing career work rather than a chapter within it. Today's workforce increasingly feels the same. 3 mindsets to transform careers This Morning The daily digest for entrepreneurs and business leaders SIGN UP Privacy Policy Privacy Policy Featured Video An Inc.com Featured Presentation Deloitte research found that an overwhelming majority of workers, 86 percent of Gen Zs and 84 percent of millennials, are looking for more mentorship and guidance at work. They also rank communication, leadership, empathy, networking, and relationship-building as the skills most critical to their success. These are skills built through interaction, and also through modeling and feedback. This is exactly what mentoring delivers. Mentoring shapes organizations, too. It boosts confidence and deepens connections between colleagues, leadership, and their employees. The practice can accelerate learning, creating conditions where people choose to stay and grow. It allows individuals to ultimately contribute at higher levels. Here are three mindsets about mentorship that, over time, I've seen transform careers, strengthen confidence, and multiply the impact both mentees and mentors have on the broader organizations they serve. 1. Mentoring celebrates the impact of influence, not authority. I like to say, 'Org charts don't create leadership. Influence does.' Gen Z and millennials know this intuitively. They're skeptical of hierarchical leadership and far more responsive to leaders who guide, support, and influence rather than command. Mentoring gives us all a way to practice that kind of leadership in real time. It reinforces the idea that leadership is a shared capability, one that mentors and mentees both develop by learning to lead through influence instead of position. Throughout my career, from FICO to Equifax to Wolters Kluwer, I've worked in matrixed environments. I've seen how often people struggle when they believe they need authority to move things forward. But the truth is that effective leaders influence across boundaries. They create alignment around shared objectives, regardless of who reports to whom. Mentoring is where emerging leaders learn to navigate that truth. They develop confidence, communication skills, and organizational awareness that expand their influence footprint far beyond their position on the org chart. 2. The most memorable mentoring lessons are grounded in human stories that AI can't emulate. I've long believed that people remember stories more than instructions. For example, I once spoke at a conference in Australia and opened with a story about ice fishing, an analogy that landed differently with a room full of Australians who couldn't imagine parking a truck on a frozen lake. Years later, people still reference that story when they see me. In mentoring, I've found the same to be true. As AI continues to shape how we work, human stories matter more than ever. AI can analyze patterns, but it can't draw from lived experience. That's why mentoring offers a uniquely powerful way to build relationships that technology can't replicate. When guidance is shared through real-life stories that connect to a principle, such as leading with humility, managing risk, or influencing without authority, the guidance sticks. Personal stories offer the irreplaceable human context that cuts through digital noise and brings real leadership lessons to life in a deeply memorable way. 3. Mentoring helps leaders grow through smart, intentional risk-taking. As people step into bigger roles or take on new challenges, they inevitably encounter risk. Growth requires it. But navigating those moments requires judgment and balance. Someone with experience can help calibrate the stakes along the way. Mentoring is often where people feel safe enough to ask, 'I want to take a leap. Is this the right one?' In guiding others through those decisions, mentors gain clarity as well, sharpening their own approach to risk and decision-making at pivotal moments. Mentoring works both ways When I look across my career, mentoring has played a role in every major stage, from being shaped by great mentors early on to paying that forward by mentoring the next generation of leaders. Even today, I continue to value and learn from the mentors in my life, recognizing that their guidance remains essential to my ongoing growth. Mentoring is also good for companies. Managers who receive training on how to coach their teams and individuals increase their performance, according to a Gallup employee engagement survey. That means employees are more engaged and productive. They're more likely to stay, too. At its core, mentoring is about helping people see themselves differently. It can help employees believe in what they can achieve and find the courage and clarity to accelerate forward. When that exchange is truly mutual, mentoring becomes a powerful catalyst for individual and organizational growth.