OK, I'm coming clean. My all time favorite movie is Rocky, Rocky II, Rocky II, Rocky IV, Rocky V, and Rocky Balboa. Every now and then I watch one of the movies and never get tired of the scenes of Rocky training or battling the next opponent in the ring. But, there is more to the Rocky movies than just boxing. There are lessons we can all learn from Rocky Balboa. I decided to dedicate the next set of blog posts to the greatest boxer to ever live!
Go ahead and launch the Rocky Theme Song while you read!
Mentorship
As part of our personal and career development we should all find mentors and be a mentor for someone else. There are many benfits to being a mentor including working on your listening and leadership skills. Being a mentee will allow you to learn valuable lessons from someone who has priceless experience and has been where you have at this point in your career.
Throughout the Rocky movie the concept of mentorship kept popping out to me. There is a scene where Little Marie is hanging out with some older boys on the street corner and Rocky pulls her away and walks her home. During the walk home he is trying to give her advice about life and how the people she associates herself with will influence who she is as she grows up. As Little Marie is walking into her house she turns and says to Rocky. "Screw you creepo!" As Rocky walks away he mumbles, "Yeah, who am I to give advice." Don't think you can't be a mentor. You have expereinces that can help others. Little marie ends up thanking him later.
Later in the movie after Rocky decides to fight Apollo Creed he does not accept help from anyone to help train and prepare for the fight. Finally he comes around and gets Mickey to be his trainer and even gets Paulie involved. In the end he is prepared for battle. We all need mentors, we can all learn from others that have experienced things we have not. Do not be ashamed to use a mentor. You do not have to do this alone.
As BA professionals you can find mentors and mentees within your family, company, or orginzations like the IIBA. Also, check out this site for mentoring tips. http://www.mentoringgroup.com/
Please share you mentor/mentee experiences with us.
May 1st, 2008 at 2:57 pm
I have two people who stand out as mentors in my life:
Ironically, the first that pops to mind is named Rockie (Lyons Beaman), but she trained me, not in boxing or business analysis, but in training…development! She was instrumental in forming over 10 years ago the foundation that informs my methods to this day.
The second person that pops to my mind is Barbara Carkenord, who has been flogging me (think beef hanging in a freezer) to hone my business analysis skills since day 1 at B2T Training.
This underscores the whole focus of B2T Training, which is mentor-led. Clearly, the people who lead the training classes are mentors at heart.
May 14th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
I always enjoy reading (and learning from) your blog! My work history is a family size business where there’s no mentor. Now, I’m working in a mid-size company but still haven’t seen any mentoring program being offered as well. Thanks for the link, I’m going to propose this idea to my boss and see how it goes.