Mentoring: The Promise of Relational Leadership

by Walter C. Wright

Are you looking for a mentor? Do you want to become a mentor? Are you confused about exactly what mentoring is?

Walter Wright is a firm believer in relational leadership. In this book, he shares his experiences both as a mentor and a mentoree. He provides useful analogies and stories about a mentoring relationship and points out some potential pitfalls.

Choosing a mentor is an important decision, as is choosing to be a mentor. This book guides you through that choice, to forming a relationship and developing that relationship over the years. It shows you how the relationship can be mutually beneficial, with both mentor and mentoree growing in maturity and knowledge. Wright identifies some qualities that make a good mentor, what you should be looking for in a potential mentor, and what a mentor should be looking to develop in themselves.

Reflecting on the character, heart, and hope of relational leadership, this book is useful for anyone considering becoming a mentor, whether in a church environment or in a business environment. It identifies some key questions that a mentor should ask of their mentoree and guides you through developing the mentoring relationship.

Genres: Leadership

194 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2005

Reviews

[Stan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book on mentoring that I've read. The author looks at mentoring in more of a business setting, but speaks of mentoring in many areas of like. He discerns the inherent difficulties in supervisors as mentors, but points out how they can be useful. Excellent work that treats this subject deeply!

[A. Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author reflects on the "jobs" of the mentor and mentee. Though the book could easily be shortened without losing the points, I thought I'd give it four stars for a few reasons: 1) the author stresses the connection between desire for change and growth on the part of the mentee 2) in my experience, a match between the mentee's values and the mentor's values is essential. Of the books I have read on this, some overlook this particularly necessary point. 3) He exemplifies the kind of mentee every mentor wishes for: a meek one, willing to learn--and his stories communicate his desire, and also create in the reader an appetite for a mentor.

[Andrew Choy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A seasoned mentor himself, the author got a lot of wonderful insights on the topic, but the contents are quite repetitive - it could be a much shorter book.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

good book to understand mentoring is not a set of dos and don'ts