When I reflect on my long and wonderful career life, the images of many mentors pop into my head and bring a smile to my face. People like Simon Fraser, Gary Mulloy, Ted Fleming, my aunt Hermine Garcia, Yo Canny, Maureen Connor. These are just a few of the people who took a special interest in my career and took me under their wing. They shared their wisdom, experience, advice and connections with me. They guided me at critical times in my career. I was and continue to be blessed by their mentor ship.

Whose life have you positively influenced?

A few weeks ago I received a new years greeting card with one of those printed newsletters in it with family updates. It was from my former colleague Jenny. At the bottom of her newsletter there was a handwritten note that warmed my heart. She wrote: “I enjoy reading your posts on LinkedIn. You have always been a mentor to me.”  I guess I never really thought of myself as a mentor. I just thought I was befriending a colleague and helping her when I could. To me, that’s just what you do in networking and when you work with people. Yet it had a much greater meaning to her. You never know how much you might be positively influencing  people’s lives in your daily work. You may have mentored someone without even knowing it.

What is mentoring?

Mentoring is an voluntary advisory relationship between an older, more experienced individual and a younger person. Sometimes these relationships are formal and structured (think Big Brothers/Big Sisters organization) and sometimes they are loose and undefined. Sometimes a mentor is selected for you; more often you decide who you want to mentor you based upon whom you respect, admire, like and trust. Sometimes the mentor picks you because they see great potential in you that can be realized with a little positive guidance.

I like this quote and music video on mentoring:

“Mentoring is a brain to pick, an ear to listen, and a push in the right direction.”  – John Crosby

Mentoring college students

I have included mentoring as one of the eleven networking tips for college students, as part of the keynote talk that I delivered to sophomores at Trinity College in Hartford, CT last week. I’m excited to see colleges and universities include the topic of networking in their career summit programs. I believe that if we can teach our young people how to network now while they are young, they will have an easier time launching their careers after they graduate (or Bill Gates and Steve Jobs’ case, before they graduate).

I want to make my presentation available free of charge to all college students who want to learn more about networking and how they can build and maintain strategic relationships to help them launch and propel their careers. Please click through to my official speaker web site MotivatedSpeaker.com where I have uploaded a narrated slide show featuring my 11 Networking Tips for College Students.

• Please share this free resource with college students, professors and parents of college students who are in your network.

Your Networking Goal for the Week

Find a quiet moment this week and reflect upon the past mentors in your life. Write down their names on a piece of paper so that you have a visual reference. Now, proactively reach out to them via telephone or handwritten letter and thank them. Let them know how much you appreciate and value the mentoring role they played in your life.

Now it’s time to pay it forward.  Think about a younger person in your network who could use a little guidance and help. This person could be in your extended family, your neighborhood, your church, your company, or other communities that you are involved with. Consider how much time you would be willing to invest in mentoring this younger person.

Reach out and see if they might be interested in a mentoring relationship. Set some ground rules and discuss expectations such as how often you will get together, how to give each other feedback, how you both prefer to stay in touch between meetings. If appropriate, discuss this mentoring relationship with the parents of the young person to ensure they are on board and will support this connection.

If you prefer to engage in a more structured mentoring program, contact your employer, your church, or your college alumni association to see if they have an active mentoring program that you might be able to participate in. Big Brothers/Big Sisters is a great organization that you might also want to consider.

One final inspiring quote to help motivate you to mentor others:

“We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.”  – Winston Churchill

About the writer: Kathy McAfee is known as America’s Marketing Motivator and is author of the book Networking Ahead for Business (Kiwi Publishing 2010). In her role as Executive Presentation Coach and Professional Speaker, Kathy helps her clients to become the recognized leaders in their fields by mastering the art of high engagement presentations, more effective networking and personal marketing. To learn more about Kathy, visit her web site MarketingMotivator.net.  If you like this tip and want to receive free networking tips on a weekly basis, please sign up at NetworkingAhead.com