Tag Grow Yourself

Here’s Why You Need a Mentor

Steve Keating Leave a comment

I have been blessed to have had outstanding mentors throughout my life. They have had a positive impact on both my personal life and my professional life. They have willingly given me their time and life experiences to help me be a better version of myself. And they have done that while expecting nothing in return except an effort on my part to continually improve. 

No matter where you are in life or your career a mentor is incredibly important for personal and professional growth. The role of a mentor goes beyond providing guidance; they act as a trusted advisor, supporter, and source of wisdom. Here are some of the ways a mentor could have a positive impact on your life this very day. 

  • Mentors typically have more experience and expertise in a specific field or domain. They can share their knowledge, insights, and practical tips that may not be readily available in books or courses. This can help the mentee learn faster and avoid common pitfalls.
  • A mentor can provide personalized guidance tailored to the mentee’s unique goals, strengths, and weaknesses. Unlike generic advice, a mentor can identify areas for improvement and help the mentee develop a personalized action plan.
  • Having a mentor who believes in your potential can significantly boost your confidence. They can encourage you to take on challenges. They can help you see your progress. They provide constructive feedback, which can be invaluable in building self-assurance.
  • Mentors often have extensive networks within their industry or profession. Through their connections, mentees may gain access to new opportunities, potential collaborators, or valuable resources.
  • A mentor can offer career guidance and help with navigating the complexities of professional life. They may offer advice on career choices, skill development, and strategies for advancing in one’s field.
  • Effective mentors not only focus on professional development but also on personal growth. They can help mentees improve their soft skills, such as communication, leadership, and time management. Those are essential skills for business. They are also essential skills for life.
  • Mentors provide an objective viewpoint, free from personal biases or emotions that friends or family might have. They can give honest feedback. They challenge the mentee when needed, and help them see situations from different angles.
  • Mentors can hold their mentees accountable for their actions and progress. They can assist in setting realistic goals and provide encouragement and motivation to achieve them.
  • Mentors often share their own experiences, including mistakes and failures. This allows mentees to learn from these experiences, avoid repeating similar errors, and develop resilience in the face of challenges.
  • Mentors often take a long-term interest in their mentees’ success. They are invested in the mentees’ growth and development, providing support even as the mentees progress in their careers.

It would not be at all unusual for you to have more than one mentor in your life at a time. One for professional growth, one for personal growth and maybe even one for financial growth. Mentors make a difference for the people they mentor. 

If you’re not sure how to find a mentor then start by looking around. Who are the people you most admire? Who are the people who you think of as successful? Who are the people you would be proud to be like? Ask those people if they would be willing to invest the serious time required to mentor you. Ask them if they would be willing to help you be your best self. 
You will know you’ve asked the right person when you receive an enthusiastic YES.

If the person you ask is hesitant or can’t commit the time don’t try to “sell” them on the idea. It isn’t that they don’t care, it’s more likely they are being realistic in that they can’t commit the time to be truly committed to helping you. At least not at this time in their lives. 


But don’t give up, ask another person that fits your criteria. Ask as many times as you need to because a mentor can and likely will, change your life for the better.

Want more of LeadToday? I’ve changed things up on my Twitter feed for subscribers. I recently began publishing two or three videos each week focusing on an element of Authentic Leadership. I’ll post these videos each Tuesday and Thursday morning. Sometimes a bonus video pops up at other times during the week. They will be about 10 minutes long so we can get into the topic in a more meaningful way. The investment for subscribers in still only $4.99 a month. That’s for at least 80 MINUTES of quality video content on leadership a month.

If you’re interested in taking a look, head on over to my Twitter profile page. If you’re not a follower yet just hit the follow button. It will change to a subscribe button and once you hit that you’re on your way. You can cancel at any time you’ve decided you have nothing left to learn about leading the people who you count on for your success.

Here’s the link to my Twitter… https://twitter.com/leadtoday

How to Cultivate a Growth Mindset

Steve Keating Leave a comment

Cultivating a growth mindset as a leader and encouraging it in your team is crucial for building a culture of continuous learning and innovation. You’re either growing or you’re falling behind those who are. If you’re interested in consistent growth there are some well defined steps that can help you develop a growth mindset as a leader and promote it within your team. 

  • Begin by understanding the concept of a growth mindset. Read books, articles, and research on the subject, such as Carol Dweck’s book “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.” Gain a solid understanding of the difference between a growth mindset (believing that abilities can be developed through dedication and effort) and a fixed mindset (believing that abilities are fixed traits).
  • As a leader, your actions speak louder than words. Way louder! Demonstrate a growth mindset in your own behavior and decision-making processes. Embrace challenges, take risks, seek feedback, and continuously learn and improve. Share stories of your own failures, setbacks, and how you learned from them. This will help your team see that growth and development are valued and encouraged.
  • Create opportunities for your team members to develop their skills and expand their knowledge. Provide access to training programs, workshops, conferences, or online courses. Support their participation in relevant industry events or networking opportunities. Encourage them to set ambitious goals, and provide resources and guidance to help them achieve those goals.
  • Cultivate a team culture where mistakes are seen as learning opportunities. One where failure is not stigmatized but rather viewed as a stepping stone toward improvement. Encourage open communication and collaboration, where team members feel comfortable sharing their ideas. Celebrate efforts and progress, not just the final outcomes.
  • When providing feedback, focus on the process and effort rather than just the results. Recognize and acknowledge the hard work, dedication, and improvement demonstrated by your team members. Help them identify areas for growth and offer guidance on how to overcome challenges. Encourage a growth-oriented dialogue. Emphasize that abilities can be developed through practice and perseverance.
  • Encourage your team members to take ownership of their work and pursue opportunities for growth. Provide them with autonomy to make decisions, experiment, and learn from their experiences. Encourage them to take on new challenges and stretch beyond their comfort zones. Offer support and guidance as needed, but allow them to take the lead and learn from both successes and failures.
  • Promote collaboration and the sharing of knowledge and skills within your team. Create platforms or systems for knowledge exchange, such as regular team meetings, mentorship programs, or cross-functional projects. Encourage team members to learn from each other. Leverage their diverse strengths, and support one another in their growth journeys.
  • Acknowledge and appreciate team members who demonstrate a growth mindset. Celebrate their efforts, progress, and achievements. Recognize those who embrace challenges and actively pursue learning and development. By recognizing and rewarding growth mindset behaviors, you reinforce their importance.

Cultivating a growth mindset is an ongoing process. As a leader, your consistent focus and commitment to creating a growth-oriented culture will have a significant impact on your team’s mindset and performance. If you have the audacity to call yourself a leader then you must lead the way to a growth culture by working on your own growth mindset every day. 

I hope you have that audacity and I hope you accept the responsibility that comes with it. 

Want more of LeadToday? I’ve changed things up on my Twitter feed for subscribers. I recently began publishing two or three videos each week focusing on an element of Authentic Leadership. I’ll post these videos each Tuesday and Thursday morning. Sometimes a bonus video pops up at other times during the week. They will be about 10 minutes long so we can get into the topic in a more meaningful way. The investment for subscribers in still only $4.99 a month. That’s for at least 80 MINUTES of quality video content on leadership a month. 

If you’re interested in taking a look, head on over to my Twitter profile page. If you’re not a follower yet just hit the follow button. It will change to a subscribe button and once you hit that you’re on your way. You can cancel at any time you’ve decided you have nothing left to learn about leading the people who you count on for your success. 

Here’s the link to my Twitter… https://twitter.com/leadtoday 

The Benefit of Living an Uncomfortable Life

Steve Keating 8 Comments

A while back I was managing a program and someone asked me about a decision I had made. I responded that I was comfortable with what I had decided. I also said I was comfortable with the thousands of other decisions I had made for the program too. 

 

I’d say less than a minute later I realized how arrogant that sounded. It also wasn’t exactly true since I work hard at being intentionally uncomfortable. 

 

One of the biggest obstacles on many people’s journey to success is comfort. The split second you are comfortable with where you’re at you’re not there anymore. The moment you’re comfortable with all of your decisions is the same moment your decisions become less effective. In the instant you become comfortable doing something your pursuit of doing it better stops.

 

If I could give anyone advice to help them be consistently successful I’d tell them to live as uncomfortably as they can stand. Actually it would be to live a little more uncomfortably than they can stand. 

 

The world is ever changing. The marketplace for every business is morphing in ways unthinkable a couple of years ago. Being comfortable, for even a day or two means risking being left so far behind that you may never catch up.  

 

Comfort is an expense that no organization can afford. If your goals include growing or even if your goals are merely to survive the next five years then you must embrace discomfort now. Virtually nothing works the way it did even a few years ago and it’s likely that what works this year won’t work next year.

 

As a leader you must push yourself to uncomfortable places. You must help your people get comfortable with being uncomfortable. You must ensure that they are uncomfortable with the mere thought of comfort. 

 

Uncomfortable people grow, uncomfortable organizations succeed and their success is lasting. Comfortable people are vulnerable and so are comfortable organizations. They are vulnerable to extinction.

 

If you’re comfortable saying things like “we’ve always done it that way” then I hope you’re really comfortable because those may be the final words ever spoken on behalf of your once successful organization. 

 

The benefit of living an uncomfortable life is surviving and even thriving in a world that uses old ideas only as a measuring stick against new ones. 


It’s fine to relax so go ahead and uncomfortably relax because uncomfortable is the new comfortable. At least it is for those people and organizations that hope to still be successful in the months and years ahead.

The Limits of Good Mentoring

Steve Keating 5 Comments

I’ve been truly blessed throughout my life to have great mentors. I knew they were great mentors because every now and then they would say “I don’t know, you should probably ask someone else.” 

 

I’ve written several times on the importance of having a mentor. No matter your age, your current level of success, your title or your position within your organization, you will do better tomorrow if you have a mentor today. What’s more you’ll be even better off if you have multiple mentors. 

 

Here’s why. 

 

One of the things that make a great mentor is that they know what they don’t know and they didn’t pretend that they know it. 

 

You can have a mentor who is a brilliant business strategist but not so capable with their people skills. You can have a managerial genius as a mentor but that doesn’t mean they are great leadership coaches. 

 

Those “gaps” don’t mean they are a bad mentor. It’s when they attempt to fill those gaps with guesses, rumors, and plain old BS that they become a poor mentor. I suppose there are mentors who do have a vast amount of knowledge across a very wide spectrum of skill sets and situations…..I just haven’t found one.

 

I’d much rather have a mentor, and much much rather be a mentor, who occasionally has the confidence to say “I just don’t know,” and “I don’t want to steer you wrong so I can’t answer that.” 

 

This may sound a bit counterintuitive but if you have a mentor that has an answer for every question and advice for every single situation then it is very likely you don’t have the right mentor for you. 

 

Having more than one mentor helps overcome the limits that all truly good mentors have. When you have multiple mentors you are more likely to have a mentor with deeper experience in the area(s) where you need help. When you have mentors who look at the same situation but view it from different angles you’re provided with a deeper understanding of what you’re dealing with and that makes a successful outcome much more likely.

 

If you don’t have a mentor today then find one today. Find someone who you feel is successful, someone who cares enough about people to share their “library of experience,” and someone who is willing to invest a part of themselves in your success. 


When you find someone with those characteristics then you have found a mentor and when you’ve found a mentor you’re that much closer to finding an even greater level of success.


How to Grow Yourself

Steve Keating Leave a comment

Generally speaking I like people. My challenge is that I like some people more than others. 

The people I like most are the ones who are most like me. They think like me, they have the same interests and hobbies as me and they even sort of look like and talk like me. 

But I also have this almost insatiable need to learn and to grow, to be challenged and to push myself. As much as I love being around people who are just like me I don’t learn that much from them. They seldom challenge my thinking and they rarely cause me to change my opinion. 

So I force myself to talk with people who I disagree with. I read the darnedest stuff written by people who are clearly off the wall with their thinking. I listen to people who are obviously wrong.

Except sometimes they aren’t. Sometimes the people who I disagree with are right. Once in a while that off the wall “junk” is invaluable in helping me see another point of view, and sometimes it’s me who is wrong. (Just to be clear, that doesn’t happen often but sometimes…)

I’d never know any of that if I just hung around people who were just like me. 

My friends and family, who I truly cherish, provide me with a stable, supportive, and caring environment which I and every other human on the planet absolutely needs. But our “group think” does little to help any of us grow.

It’s the people who wouldn’t be my first choice to spend lots of time with, the people who come from different and varying backgrounds, even the people who I outright dislike that frequently help me grow the most. 

IF I’m willing to listen and IF I’m willing to change. 

Those two “if’s” are often the biggest challenge most of us face on the journey to reach our full potential. If you’re willing to listen, to consider that you could be wrong, to believe it’s possible that someone has a better way of doing something, then you have a chance to truly grow. 

Of course, I could be wrong about all of this.