Mentorship

Now that you truly know the importance of a mentor, it’s likely that you are more willing to start your search and find one for yourself. Well, let’s discuss some tips you should utilize to find yourself the right consulting guru.

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Go beyond your personal identity

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Consultants often look for mentors who are similar to them demographically. For instance, males may look up to other male mentors and females may seek a successful female consultant as a mentor for succeeding in consulting. Race, nationality, gender, etc. should not be a decisive factor in choosing a mentor. You see, a shared identity is not necessarily a bad thing. However, it should only be seen as an additional advantage, not a requirement. So, if not shared identity, then what should you look for in a mentor? Well, we’ll discuss that in detail further in this article. But to keep it simple, the ability to mentor consultants skillfully and help them advance their career is the most important attribute that you should look for in a mentor.

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Look for a mentor who is proactive, not just popular

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Another common pattern among consultants is chasing the popular mentor. Not saying that there aren’t any benefits to that. You could grow your own prestige just by association with a famous and insanely successful senior consultant. This could be helpful if you have been working in the consulting industry for a few years and have acclimatized yourself to the consulting environment completely. However, if you’re someone who is new to the industry and needs someone to hold your hand and show you the way. Then, you should probably look for a mentor who is proactive enough to do that. When you’re new, you don’t necessarily need popularity. What you need is to familiarize yourself with how the industry works and how you can reach the next level in the hierarchy. You can get acquainted with the popular ones later, but first, you need to survive the first couple of years in consulting.