Mentoring Examples And Why They Are Crucial

Mentoring, especially by a senior, is critical and necessary, especially where your career is concerned. You can count on mentoring as part of your daily life – from college onwards. It may surprise you to discover that some of the most famous people in the world were all mentored through various stages of their life. Take a look at a few mentoring examples.

  • Steve Jobs mentoring Mark Zuckerberg:

When it comes to mentoring examples, it may surprise you to learn that Steve Jobs mentored Mark Zuckerberg. As the man who created FaceBook, it is hard to come to terms with the fact that he was mentored. 

But yes, he was, and that’s a fact; the two were supposed to have gone on long walks together, discussing FaceBook and his focus on entrepreneurship. So to state that Steve Jobs had a role to play in the creation of FaceBook would be an understatement.

  • Maya Angelou mentoring Oprah Winfrey:

Regarding mentoring examples, some can be hard to accept at face value. After all, Oprah Winfrey is a household name where home television networks are concerned. She has her talk show and her own production company and is quite Rich. 

It’s hard to imagine Oprah as lacking in either entrepreneurship or confidence – for she has plenty. But that’s the truth, and even Oprah has confirmed the same. According to Oprah, she had just started, and that’s when Maya Angelou stepped in to mentor her. And the rest is history!

  • Gopal Krishna Gokhale mentored Mahatma Gandhi:

Given that Mahatma Gandhi managed to breathe a fresh lease of life into the Indian Independence Movement in a peaceful manner – it is not unexpected to discover that he had a mentor. 

Mahatma Gandhi had spent most of his time overseas, from studying law in the UK to practice his trade in South Africa – he would naturally need a reliable mentor to teach him about India and to relate to the typical Indian on the road. Gopal Krishna Gokhale was the right person for Gandhi, for he managed to do just that.

  •  Mahatma Gandhi mentoring Nelson Mandela:

When it comes to mentoring, one need not establish a one-on-one relationship. Both need to meet indirectly. And that was the case between Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela. 

Mahatma Gandhi was a bibliophile and an author who had already managed to author several works. And these books would play a pivotal role in the life of Nelson Mandela and the ANC movement. 

To claim that Mahatma Gandhi laid the seeds for the ANC and the freedom movement in South Africa would not be an exaggeration.

  •  Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King:

And while it seems to be “made for fiction,” the fact remains that the writings of Mahatma Gandhi profoundly influenced Martin Luther King. It influenced him to kickstart the civil rights movement, one that would forever have a lasting impact on the American Landscape.

  •  Christian Dior and Yves St-Laurent:

It is often funny how the most unthinkable jobs are a godsend. And that’s what happened with Yves St-Laurent, who had initially joined as Christian Dior’s secretary. He learned all about Haute Culture and the business from Christin Dior to the point of establishing his own Company. Today, Yves St-Laurent is a household name, one to be reckoned as equal to Dior.

  •  Warren Buffet mentoring Bill Gates:

While most of us learned that Bill Gates started small and moved on to create Microsoft and Windows, few of us knew that Bill Gates had to surmount several challenges while starting. 

And during the initial challenges, he often turned to none other than Warren Buffet and asked him for advice on how to handle it. Today, Gates credits Warren Buffet for helping him when he needed it the most.

  • Stella Adler, mentoring two actors:

It is hard to mentor one actor but to handle both and turn them into an overnight success? That’s what Stellar Adler did when she decided to mentor both Robert DeNiro and Marlon Brando. 

She taught them both the Stanislavski method of acting, which both utilized. And naturally, they both became an overnight success and today stand heads and shoulders above the remaining male actors, both past and present.

These are some examples of mentoring, and a mere review should highlight why mentoring is crucial to human survival. 

For example, without Mahatma Gandhi being mentored by the likes of Gokhale, India may have never gotten her freedom and continued remaining a colony. And when you think about it, you can understand the impact mentoring can have – not just on one person but a whole country. 

And that’s why it makes sense to check out some of the mentorship courses, for you never know when you’ll need it, especially where your career is concerned.