During my 27 years in industry and 13 years in academia, I've found that the most fruitful mentoring relationships develop organically over time. In my first years in industry (and later my first few years in academia!), I asked tons of questions to different people. This was enormously helpful. And as one of my long-time mentors, Ken Fordyce, posted above, mentoring benefits the mentor as well as the mentee. It's satisfying to help others and learn in the process.
Someone once told me that, "Mentoring is like dating, except without any sex." Both mentor and mentee get to know each other and over time some relationships last longer than others. Even the short-term mentoring relationships can be successful. The INFORMS mentor-match has worked well for me, and even one "match" resulted in a single 40 minute zoom call in which I think I provided helpful information, though the fellow never reconnected to ask anything else. I always ask mentees to reach out whenever they have issues they want to discuss. Sometimes they do and multi-year relationships develop. Also, when I stumble across information that I think may help a mentee, I will forward it to them, but mostly I count on the mentee to seek me when they want advice. And I seek advice from my mentors when I need it. As an example, it was 1994 when I first asked Ken Fordyce for advice and I asked him again this past week for his view/advice on something, and as usual, his perspective helped. Unlike with dating though, with mentors, it is good to have many of them. Depending on the issue, a particular mentor (or set of mentors) may be best.
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John Milne
Clarkson University
Potsdam, NY
jmilne@clarkson.edu------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 06-03-2023 10:39
From: Bruce Hartman
Subject: Mentoring: You Have More to Share than You Know!
I think mentoring is very useful, and assigned mentoring can be valuable in the short term. But it should allow for the mentee to switch mentors readily when they find someone who is more congenial to them. Especially when the mentoring can focus on a specific issue or problem, a mentor's advice can be useful, even if you don't wind up taking it. You get a perspective you wouldn't have gotten.
I think the kind of mentoring arrangements WORMS has (or used to have; I have not been to an INFORMS to participate in some years), where they pair up individuals during the session, can be a valuable experience for both parties. And there are no strings attached. You just share perspectives, and then the mentee gets to make their own decisions.
I'm not sure long-term mentoring as some industry jobs used to practice it is in the mean as useful. The probability distribution of outcomes is skewed toward the less useful. It can produce good political connections in the company, but if the mentor is not connected to the right people for you, it is much less useful.
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Bruce Hartman
Professor
University of St. Francis
Tucson, AZ United States
bruce@ahartman.net
website:http://drbrucehartman.net/brucewebsite/
Original Message:
Sent: 05-31-2023 10:47
From: Jill Capello
Subject: Mentoring: You Have More to Share than You Know!
Dionne Aleman, a professor at the University of Toronto and director of the Medical Operations Research Laboratory, wrote an article for INFORMS entitled "Mentoring: You Have More to Share than You Know!". If you've been considering volunteering to be a mentor through our Mentor Match program, but weren't quite sure you had enough experience to be able to offer advice and guidance to a prospective mentee, please take a minute to read Dionne's article. It might make you see just how much you really do have to offer!
And if you have a good news story about your experience with mentoring (whether as mentor or mentee), please share it here.
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Jill Capello
Membership Associate
INFORMS
Catonsville MD
jcapello@informs.org
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