We advise startups, early stage businesses and businesses looking to move in a new direction on a daily basis. These mentor relationships have been amazing and have led to many successes for both parties. We feel that our team is a large part of that success through our varied backgrounds and skills; however, what makes us really successful is how well we work together. We all have similar views on what success looks like for our clients. So what does this have to do with David Cohen? I’ll tell you.
David wrote a post in August of 2011 titled “The Mentor Manifesto” where he outlines what he believes are the characteristics and behaviors of great mentors. It’s a great read and we recommend all mentors out there check out the article. At Araytha we work to practice the same in our mentoring for UpTech and NKU Inkubator and at events like Startup Weekend.
Here are a couple of our favorite ones from the list:
Expect nothing in return.
Be optimistic.
Be responsive.
Be challenging/robust but never destructive.
Our manifesto at Araytha is a little shorter: support when decisions are toughest, inspire when opportunity is available and push when it’s all that’s needed to succeed.