Why Bother with Mentors?

In this article Sylvia examines the advantages of receiving mentoring and the benefits to career development during study and post MBA. 

It is all about ‘to have’! To have a family, a car, two cars, three cars, a house and an apartment . To have a summer vacation on the Islands of Maldives and a winter vacation in the Swiss Alps. To have a fast-track career. To have an MBA degree … 

Then next stage starts. One starts comparing what one has to what the others have. Then the vicious circle of an never-ending strife to stay ahead of all, or at least be amongst ‘the best’ catches hold of us. If someone has anything more, there are so many ‘volunteers’ who try to take it away. This has been the life of our parents and this life is now ours. 

The Paradigm Shift 

This is the scarcity mentality principle in action. Resources are limited and the more one has, the less is left to the others. From the vantage point of this paradigm, life looks like a pie-chart. 

But at a certain moment in our life (that moment may not be planned, nor forecasted by anybody!) we may meet someone who is not concerned with what s/he has, and freely gives us his/her resources (time, money, contacts, knowledge). Since we are so ‘programmed’ to get, we are quick on the take. This moment we may be tempted to believe that we have more than him/her. But life is not an equation with an expected and forecasted outcome! On a closer look, we realize that the one who gives more, receives more. 

This is the abundance mentality principle: there is more than enough for everyone under the sun, and the more you give, the more comes into your life. 

These two life principles are plainly revealed just in one sentence in the ancient book of Proverbs, chapter 11, verse 24 says, ‘There is that scatters, and yet increases; and [there is] that withholds more than is meet, but [it tends] to poverty.’

Paradoxically, though mutually exclusive in one’s life, both principles hold true. What is left to us is to choose which one will lead our life. 

As MBAs we are ‘programmed’ to assume that as soon as we have our MBA, we are necessarily on a vantage ground more than the others, i.e. we deserve a larger piece of the cake: a higher position, a higher salary, higher status … This is a statement that proves true to some and false to others. Company-sponsored MBA students usually get promotion since their MBA was made part of their career development within the company they work for. But it does not hold as true to the self-sponsored MBAs. What is there waiting for them when they exit the graduation ceremony hall, is the moment of disillusionment! This is the point when the chance to switch off the 1st principle and switch on the 2nd one sparkles! We may consider ourselves lucky, if we meet a person who can support us to get through the paradigm shift. We call such people ‘mentors’. 

Facing the True Competitive Advantage of Our MBA 

It is true that the MBA increases our mobility, and others start regarding us as more powerful and less loyal. But in the make-or-buy decision (Besanko et al, 2007), some companies prefer the ‘make’ option and sponsor their employees to study MBA against the obligation of employee to sign a long-term employment contract. Consequently, self-sponsored MBAs should predominantly focus on companies which prefer the ‘buy’ option. It would be far more difficult to enter a company which has appropriated the ‘make’ choice in its culture. 

Each of us can make an assessment of the new value we have with the MBA. Though not exhaustive in details, Porter’s Diamond Model (Besanko et al, 2007:446-8) serves a good starting point for evaluating the extent to which our MBA gives us a competitive advantage. Porter defines 4 groups of interrelated conditions which shape the value of the competitive advantage one has. These are: 

(1) Factor conditions which may stand for the other educational degrees we have; the experience we have; which industries we have experience in, etc. The answer to some questions can help us better define these factors, e.x. Do the educational degrees I have qualify me to move to another industry in spite of the lack of
experience I have? Does the education I have qualify me to hold certain positions despite of deficient previous experience?

(2) Demand conditions. These may be detected through answering such questions as: Is there demand for my MBA in my current company? In the industry I am currently working, i.e. in other companies in the same industry? Which industries show higher demand for MBAs in my country? What about other countries?

To constantly feel the pulse of the market, we may get connected to head hunters and be subscribed to newly opening releases recruitment agencies regularly post. To increase our exposure, we may become members in short-listed business groups. There are social groups that are restricted to MBAs only, and employers who hire MBAs may approach you through this channel.

In summary, factor conditions specify the ‘product’ we offer while demand conditions deal with the market demand for that product. Hence, analyzing the close interaction of the two is crucial.

(3) Related supplier or support industries. These conditions focus on our proximity to Universities, incl. membership in the alumni associations. Universities are often the chain spanning employers and students, thus smoothing the interaction between the first two types of conditions. Networking with our ‘suppliers’, i.e. the educational institutions we have graduated from, gives us access to other alumni who may work exactly in the company/ industry we aspire for.

(4) Strategy, structure and rivalry. Here we have to analyze whether lower-level degrees are sufficient for positions we aspire for. Do other factors (besides education and experience) play role in the decision-making?

The ‘Fight or Flight’ Temptation

Under such circumstances of adversity we may choose just to wait for the tempest to have its go and subdue. If we don’t demand anything and don’t try to change any part of the status-quo, the large waves may get quiet soon. This is why there are so many MBAs I know that remain in their position despite their higher qualification. 

But other MBAs have chosen to fight and get out of the glass sphere that suddenly encompasses them. It is not just a glass ceiling. In many cases MBAs have other master degrees previously gained. They are recognized as professionals in their previous role, but not in the management arena. 

Mentoring is the way out of this ‘fight or flight’ mode of professional life. 

Nature or Nurture 

There is close similarity between the two agricultural methods of crops growing nowadays and mentoring. The most wide-spread method to feed plants is through adding the lacking substances. In organic farming however, it is the soil we feed, not the plant; and the plant gets what it needs from the soil. The former approach is very easy to do and renders results more quickly. But fruit are good in shape and not that good in taste. In organic farming it takes much more persistence and sophistication to grow plants, but definitely plants are less dangerous for human health and prove more tasty. 

The same two approaches can exemplify what happens to MBAs ‘ careers after graduation. We observe the former approach when the MBA graduate gets everything on a ready-to-serve basis. It is the easier way with many quick-fixes, but the MBA misses the opportunity of changing disposition that can only enable him/her to overcome ‘plant diseases’ on one’s own. 

The second approach is observed when the ‘soil’ of the MBA’s life is saturated, i.e. the MBA takes advantage of all difficult circumstances which come across in his/her life in order to build up that healthy disposition to deal with everything no matter what comes along the way. 

The mentee in the former case is more a protégé of his/her mentor. While the mentor in the latter case acts as the farmer and utilizes any kind of circumstances to support the mentee in reaching a mature state of mind through building up a healthy disposition. 

©2014
Reviewed 2022