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Starting Strong: A Mentoring Fable
A hands-on and usable guide to making the first 90 days of your mentoring relationship a success In Starting Strong, mentoring experts Lois J. Zachary and Lory A. Fischler weave a compelling tale that exemplifies the concepts, highlights the dynamics, and outlines the issues involved in mentoring relationships. The authors use the form of a fable to tell the story of a budding mentoring relationship filled with possibilities, problems, and triumphs. The story of Cynthia, a seasoned professional, and her new mentee Rafa, brings to life Zachary and Fischler's wealth of mentoring suggestions and best practices and each episode of the fable is accompanied by reflection questions, key learnings, and strategies that readers can apply to their own mentoring relationships. The authors include a conversation playbook that guides mentors and mentees through six essential conversations that will help them establish a strong mentoring connection, and keep it moving forward. As organizations face the transition of departing Boomers and arriving Millennials, Starting Strong offers a hands-on and readable guide to create effective mentoring relationships that will ensure the success of that transition. The Starting Strong is more than an engaging story of mentorship, it's a vital resource for understanding how to implement and sustain a meaningful mentoring relationship. To receive the readers' book club guide, click centerformentoringexcellence.com/wp-c...
224 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2014
12 people are currently reading
232 people want to read
About the author
Lois J. Zachary
25 books3 followersLois Zachary is an internationally recognized expert on mentoring and leadership. You’ve likely seen mention of Dr. Zachary’s books, or read her quotes in The New York Times, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Inc. magazine, T&D, Leadership Excellence, The Chronicle of Higher Education, or other business and leadership news outlets.
Her first book on mentoring, The Mentor’s Guide, was published in 2000. It quickly became the primary resource for organizations interested in promoting mentoring for leadership development and the go-to resource for mentors seeking to deepen their mentoring practice. A second edition of The Mentor’s Guide was published in 2011 and due to continued demand is forthcoming in a third edition (June 2022, Lisa Z. Fain co-author).
With her other best-selling books — Creating a Mentoring Culture: The Organization’s Guide (2005), The Mentee’s Guide (2009), Starting Strong (2014, co-authored with Lory Fischler), Bridging Differences for Better Mentoring (2020, co-authored with Lisa Fain), five Mentoring Excellence Pocket Toolkits and more than 100 published articles — Dr. Zachary has created a comprehensive set of tools for promoting mentoring excellence for individuals and organizations.
In addition, Zachary published a collection of poetry and reflection entitled My Mother Has the Finest Eyes, A Collection of Poetry and Reflection (2013).
Dr. Zachary is the founder of Leadership Development Services, LLC and its Center for Mentoring Excellence. Her innovative mentoring approaches and expertise in coaching leaders and their organizations in designing, implementing and evaluating learner-centered mentoring programs have been adopted globally by a wide array of clients, including Fortune 500 companies, government organizations, educational and other institutions — profit and nonprofit.
Dr. Zachary received her doctorate in adult and continuing education from Columbia University. She holds a Master of Arts degree from Columbia and a Master of Science degree in education from Southern Illinois University.
She is a board member of Charter 100, an organization that recognizes outstanding women of achievement, and has held leadership positions on many community and national boards — including the Mentor National Team of the Chicago Public Schools, and the Advisory Council of Arizona State’s University School of Global Management and Leadership. She is secretary of Women Investing in Science and Education (WISH), an organization that works in collaboration with Banner Health to promote women’s wellness and family health through education and targeted philanthropic support.
She is an avid reader and loves and appreciates ballet and music.
Her first book on mentoring, The Mentor’s Guide, was published in 2000. It quickly became the primary resource for organizations interested in promoting mentoring for leadership development and the go-to resource for mentors seeking to deepen their mentoring practice. A second edition of The Mentor’s Guide was published in 2011 and due to continued demand is forthcoming in a third edition (June 2022, Lisa Z. Fain co-author).
With her other best-selling books — Creating a Mentoring Culture: The Organization’s Guide (2005), The Mentee’s Guide (2009), Starting Strong (2014, co-authored with Lory Fischler), Bridging Differences for Better Mentoring (2020, co-authored with Lisa Fain), five Mentoring Excellence Pocket Toolkits and more than 100 published articles — Dr. Zachary has created a comprehensive set of tools for promoting mentoring excellence for individuals and organizations.
In addition, Zachary published a collection of poetry and reflection entitled My Mother Has the Finest Eyes, A Collection of Poetry and Reflection (2013).
Dr. Zachary is the founder of Leadership Development Services, LLC and its Center for Mentoring Excellence. Her innovative mentoring approaches and expertise in coaching leaders and their organizations in designing, implementing and evaluating learner-centered mentoring programs have been adopted globally by a wide array of clients, including Fortune 500 companies, government organizations, educational and other institutions — profit and nonprofit.
Dr. Zachary received her doctorate in adult and continuing education from Columbia University. She holds a Master of Arts degree from Columbia and a Master of Science degree in education from Southern Illinois University.
She is a board member of Charter 100, an organization that recognizes outstanding women of achievement, and has held leadership positions on many community and national boards — including the Mentor National Team of the Chicago Public Schools, and the Advisory Council of Arizona State’s University School of Global Management and Leadership. She is secretary of Women Investing in Science and Education (WISH), an organization that works in collaboration with Banner Health to promote women’s wellness and family health through education and targeted philanthropic support.
She is an avid reader and loves and appreciates ballet and music.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 4, 2021
Read this for a mentoring program I'm participating in - will be interesting to see how it impacts the mentorship experience.
December 20, 2015
Good example of the mentoring relationships, served in the easy-chewable form of fable/novel. Each chapter has a list of questions in the end, to decide for yourself what will be your personal approach.
June 10, 2022
A key way to develop careers is forming a mentoring relationship. To facilitate this, a mentor has to gain specific skills, and a mentee, likewise, has to possess certain skills. Although this relationship can make a healthy career, not a lot of conversation about this topic exists, even in education circles. In this work, Zachary and Fischler try to examine traits that make mentoring relationships work. They do so through a fable (or allegory) that engages the heart and mind.
Traditional mentoring theory tends to emphasize top-down instruction and sage advice from an all-knowing mentor. In contrast, recent trends emphasize that the mentee, too, has beneficial skills and experiences and thus has something to contribute. The shift moves to forming a healthy dynamic undergirded by trust and mutual development. The mentoring relationship can facilitate the mentee’s self-driven growth. Zachary and Fischler teach that effective mentors provide probing questions to the mentee.
Instead of teaching this approach through an outline – a format that seems contradictory to their own advice – the authors engage us with a story about Cynthia, a senior leader at an organization, and Rafa, a new employee. Rafa had a prior career as a baseball player before becoming injured. Together, they bond and learn together how Rafa can fulfill his career goals. They overcome hurdles and build depth that enables Rafa to avoid professional pitfalls.
The story provides an interesting backdrop to explore the art of mentoring. The story is somewhat generic and is clearly meant to teach rather than entertain. By focusing on a business relationship, the authors try to make this relationship generalizable to other fields. Although most relevant to the world of business, it succeeds in being able to reflect mentoring relationships in general. Thus, it could apply to the world of education, too. Being a helpful mentor or a ready mentee requires skills in itself in order to access more skills. This book can help us focus on better understanding this mentoring dynamic to advance our professional lives.
Traditional mentoring theory tends to emphasize top-down instruction and sage advice from an all-knowing mentor. In contrast, recent trends emphasize that the mentee, too, has beneficial skills and experiences and thus has something to contribute. The shift moves to forming a healthy dynamic undergirded by trust and mutual development. The mentoring relationship can facilitate the mentee’s self-driven growth. Zachary and Fischler teach that effective mentors provide probing questions to the mentee.
Instead of teaching this approach through an outline – a format that seems contradictory to their own advice – the authors engage us with a story about Cynthia, a senior leader at an organization, and Rafa, a new employee. Rafa had a prior career as a baseball player before becoming injured. Together, they bond and learn together how Rafa can fulfill his career goals. They overcome hurdles and build depth that enables Rafa to avoid professional pitfalls.
The story provides an interesting backdrop to explore the art of mentoring. The story is somewhat generic and is clearly meant to teach rather than entertain. By focusing on a business relationship, the authors try to make this relationship generalizable to other fields. Although most relevant to the world of business, it succeeds in being able to reflect mentoring relationships in general. Thus, it could apply to the world of education, too. Being a helpful mentor or a ready mentee requires skills in itself in order to access more skills. This book can help us focus on better understanding this mentoring dynamic to advance our professional lives.
April 17, 2021
A fable outlining the first 90 days of a mentoring relationship between an energetic young man and a senior leader in the company. The mentee has big career ambitions but also struggles with his supervisor's leadership and has significant issues in relating to others. The book outlines the various conversations that are necessary in a mentoring relationship. It demonstrates the importance of confronting mentees in areas of weakness and structuring times of review in the mentoring relationship. This book is a good introduction to mentoring, helping to set expectations for prospective mentees and some guidelines and helpful questions for would-be mentors.
February 13, 2015
You'll enjoy reading this compelling story about the start of a mentoring relationship. Neuroscience tells us that our brains react to a story as though it is happening to us. This means that you can actually become a better mentor just by thoughtfully reading this book. Throughout the book you will find yourself playing the role of mentor and mentee - and learning from each encounter. While it reads like a novel, the book is full of practical, evidence-based techniques for facilitating the development of a leader. An underlying theme is the importance of understanding what is going on inside the brain of your mentee. The processes of reflection and its role in making meaningful change is a key takeaway. I recommend that you put this in the hands of every employee in your organization. It's a great tool for kick-starting your mentoring program.
February 24, 2019
Powerful takeaways
The fable is relatable and insightful, but the actionable takeaways are really the strength of this work. Recommended reading for all internship program coordinators, supervisors, coaches and mentors.
The fable is relatable and insightful, but the actionable takeaways are really the strength of this work. Recommended reading for all internship program coordinators, supervisors, coaches and mentors.
January 1, 2017
It gives me a good idea of what can transpire in a mentoring relationship. I learned from it.
March 13, 2017
Do you want to be a mentor, or mentor someone else? Read this.
That's it. Nothing cute or clever.
That's it. Nothing cute or clever.
September 25, 2019
Dialog form + chapter per phase is helpful.
Conversation playbook is something I’ll dig further into.
Conversation playbook is something I’ll dig further into.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews