Why is a Mentor so Important?

For most of my business life I've worked primarily on my own. Sure, I had associates, support staff, clients, and coworkers, but my office was in my home, so I didn't have daily contact with people face to face every day. I never really thought about until I began to look at creating a more consultive approach to my recognition business. That's when the concepts of a network of people with shared interests began to become important, as did the value of mentors.

While in Los Angeles last week, I was fortunate to be able to meet for a beer with Jim Cathcart (http://www.cathcart.com/), my friend, fellow author and mentor. As I was driving to the airport after our time together, I realized just how valuable a mentor can be.

A Mentor is someone who understands you, but has the advantage of looking at your situation from a fresh angle. This approach can often make the most frustrating, baffling and scary challenges become clear; and if you have a good one, this happens quickly and easily.

That's what transpired when I sat down with Jim. He was able to unravel my concerns about my new Umbrella Recognition Strategy with a simple analogy. Jim told me that, in his view, Schaefer Recognition Group is to the recognition and training business, what a movie producer is to a major film project. The best producers are able to tap into their broad Rolodex of actors, directors, cinematographers, sound and film editors, stunt people and all of the other specialists needed to make a quality motion picture. And this group changes for each project depending on the type of film and talent required.

That's just what we do in helping our clients optimize their investment in people. We bring in our team of recognition, incentive, custom award design, speaking, training, audio/video, and technology partners as needed to best achieve a company's growth and budget goals. In just a few minutes, Jim helped me see and appreciate what I've taken 20 years to assemble; a comprehensive team of experts and the experience to apply them effectively. Boy did I walk out of our meeting with fresh enthusiasm and confidence in spreading the word about this new and timely approach.

Mentors are important for many reasons, but as I learned last week, one of the most important things a truly caring mentor will do for you is help clarify your thinking in areas where you may be too close to see.

Thanks for your time and help, Jim. I look forward to your continued support and to sharing this team approach to serving our clients!
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Jim Cathcart is one of the best known and most award-winning motivational speakers in the business with over 31 years of professional speaking around the world, Jim Cathcart . He has delivered more than 2,700 presentations to audiences in every state of the US and many foreign countries. He has created over seventy video programs and is as comfortable in front of a camera as he is on stage. His works have reached hundreds of thousands.

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John Schaefer - The Vocational Shrink