Key expectations from a mentor would be:

To provide relevant guidance to mentee
Ensure to understand the issues and jointly reach a solution with the mentee
Provide real experiences, and follow up with relevant actionable items - no theories

Key skills for a mentor would be:

Active listening without judgement or pre-conceived notion
Know where to find answers / guidance, i.e., refer to the right people or resources
Communicate clearly and honestly
Analytical mind
Desire to see others succeed

Mentoring Approach:

Tailored to each mentee, to understand the mentee’s compelling events, and customize the discussions and reach a conclusion with the mentee
Aligned values with the mentee, so that the mentoring sessions are meaningful
Build trusting, safe environment to discuss openly

Leadership roles in: Accenture, Ernst & Yong, Siebel Systems, Textkernel, among others.
Client List: Samsung, Honeywell, American Express, Princess Cruises, NASA, ING, Deutsche Bank among others.

As a mentor: Met with nearly 400 start up’s, and coached closely with more than 50 companies across the globe, in US, Asia and Europe in the past few years.

As an investor: Invested in more than 7 companies and continues to grow the portfolio in a measured and qualitative manner.

As a professor: Taught at an MBA school at a public university and also Bachelor’s program at a private university.

I would like to think that one of the most important aspect of mentoring is to provide relevant guidance to mentee and not just theories or high level ideas. Most of the mentees found value in hearing a real life examples of the situations and the solutions to the problems.

.Cocoon

Founder Psychology De-Accelerator