This week I had the opportunity to interview a long time industry leader and President of a fund distributor for the upcoming inaugural issue of I Carry The Bag…the official magazine of wholesaling.
We covered quite a bit of ground during our time together.
Over the course of the discussion our attention turned to the topic of mentors.
Here’s an excerpt from our interview:
Q. What should distribution professionals look for in a mentor?
A. The most important thing, from my perspective, when looking for a mentor is you need to have somebody who wants to be engaged in your success.
It has to be a two-way street, and good mentors recognize that they learn as much from the relationship as they give.
And though you have to be compatible, you have to have somebody who is going to tell you the good, the bad and the ugly.
Importantly your mentor should be willing to guide you, not to do your job for you.
They just have to guide you based on their own experiences. And provide suggestions as to how you can improve.
So many of the most prominent professionals in our business credit a portion of their success to a mentor.
How vital is, or has, a mentor relationship been in your career?