Customer Reviews

Mentoring 101

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Had I written this book, I don't know that I would have called it "mentoring 101". Perhaps instead, I would have called it "being a relational boss" or "bringing the best out of people at work".

Most of the book is focused on the type of mentoring that is focused on results from the perspective of the average American company life (either for profit or non-profit, as Maxwell provides examples of both).

While I may have renamed the book, that doesn't mean that it's bad. Maxwell brings out the basics of human interaction and goal achievement. He debunks several myths about management that we seem to inherently believe despite evidence to the contrary (i.e. "what most people need is isolation and time to do what they do," opposed to the truth of "most people need community and accountability").

Maxwell also uses a wealth of interesting stories and illustrations - probably because his occupation outside of being an author is being a pastor.

In my busy schedule it took me a couple of days to read this, so you could probably sit down and read the whole thing at once - and perhaps should do so every time that you hire someone or gain someone who you could be seen as a supervisor to.

I'm someone who struggles with the basics of "being a boss" to people when they seem like they don't perform up to my standards. This book gave me some helpful insights as to how I can change in order to cut down the frustration in those relationships. Hope it does similar things for you.

Mentoring 101 is a very short and practical book on mentoring by a well known expert on leadership. The book has a distinct 'corporate' feel, suitable for bosses and managers, and takes a top-down approach to mentoring (i.e. the mentor initiating the mentoring relationship and deciding who to mentor). The book has three parts. First is 'Getting Ready to Mentor Others' which discusses the reasons behind becoming a mentor and how to adopt a mentor's mindset up-front. Part two is about 'Engaging in the Mentoring Process', talking about who to mentor, how to set them up for success, how to help them do better work, and how to create the right environment. Part three is on 'Taking People Higher', where he discusses how to help others become better people and how to handle it if they surpass you.

There is a lot of great advice throughout the book. Maxwell discusses motivations, the universal need to feel worthwhile and to be appreciated. He makes the key point that people buy into the person before they buy into their leadership - developing an authentic relationship is key. He also tells us about the need to make leadership development a top priority, treating every person as unique (bringing out their best, not trying to clone yourself), and how to help others find and use their strengths. Finally, the importance of building a culture for mentoring is discussed.

If you keep in mind that this book is extremely short and not a comprehensive guide to all-things-mentoring, it can make a great introduction for the relational leader or manager ready to get serious about leadership development.

I don't blame Maxwell for marketing these gift-sized books, but there is a danger in them: that someone who uses them may consider themselves well-versed in the subject matter. For someone who wants to study mentoring, it is an introduction, but only that, and as such may be a waste of time and money.

I bought this book for my kindle to get a quick introduction to mentoring before starting a mentoring relationship. What I found is that the book does not really provide any deep insight into mentoring, mentoring techniques or any other practical guidelines but instead is mostly focused on general ideas and (somewhat trivial) general statements. While this might perhaps be sufficient to motivate somebody to develop a mentoring relationship, it is pretty much useless as a guide. This book reminds me of many other of the 'self improvement' category that try to give the reader a warm fuzzy feeling but don't provide anything of real use.

Creative thinking, and various types of thinking big thinking, Realistic thinking. Change your life, change your thinking. Come up with creative thoughts. Be creative in your thinking, value ideas, many ideas. Take time to think.

So far I am enjoying the book but my my progress and highlights do not save. To add insult to injury the kindle app crashes every time I try to go from the book to the home page. This has never happened with any other books and is very annoying. This is exactly the kind of book that I would want to highlight and refer to later, so that makes this even worse.

Maxwell's latest to his "101" series is a winner. The tips and techniques in these 101 books are easily applied for anyone wanting to improve their relational skills: personal and professional. You may also wish to check out Leadership 101, Equipping 101, Relationship 101, and Attitude 101--to complete the picture.