Product Description

Patterned after Strunk and White's classic The Elements of Style, this reference concisely summarizes the substantial existing research on the art and science of mentoring. The Elements of Mentoring reduces this wealth of published material on the topic to the fifty most important and pithy truths for supervisors in all fields. These explore what excellent mentors do, what makes an excellent mentor, how to set up a successful mentor-protégé relationship, how to work through problems that develop between mentor and protégé, what it means to mentor with integrity, and how to end the relationship when it has run its course. Succinct and comprehensive, this is a must-have for any mentor or mentor-to-be.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #338200 in Books
• Published on: 2004-04-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 176 pages

From Booklist
What Strunk and White's Elements of Style is to writing and Richard Bayan's Words That Sell (1984) is to advertising, Johnson's and Ridley's slim but meaty volume will be a classic for future mentors. Both authors are professors of psychology and have meticulously and concisely boiled the plethora of material written on the subject of mentoring down to 50 key elements. The book seems overly geared to mentoring in a corporate setting, but anyone who is attempting this noble work--be it schoolteacher, big brother, or music pedagogue--will find useful advice here, which is not only turned outward toward encouraging proteges but also inward in a section titled "Know Thyself as a Mentor: Matters of Integrity." The authors have left no stone unturned in their treatment, even dealing with the ever-present possibility of sexual attraction between mentor and protege. This is sure to become a standard in the field. Allen Weakland
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

About the Author
W. Brad Johnson is Assistant Professor of Psychology at the U.S. Naval Academy and a faculty associate in the Graduate School of Business and Education at Johns Hopkins University. Charles R. Ridley is Professor of Counseling Psychology and Associate Dean for Research at the Indiana University graduate school.

Customer Reviews

Already The Classic Guide to Mentoring
As the Chief Operating Officer for a large medical technology company, I have mentored many junior professionals for years. But until now, I've never found a guide on the art of mentoring that lays out the specific details and skills mentors should master. Imagine my delight at discovering a short but comprehensive resource for everything a new mentor should learn and a seasoned mentor should reconsider. The authors promise a "nuts and bolts" guide to doing mentoring based on the writing style of the classic "Elements of Style" guide to grammar. The authors do not disappoint on this score. Amazingly, they manage to cover all of the key ingredients to outstanding mentoring without resorting to stories or wordy narrative. In reading the "Elements of Mentoring," one gets the sense that he or she is gleaning the distilled wisdom of two master mentors. The book is brief but jam-packed with the crucial details of starting a good mentorship, managing it successfully, and even bringing it through difficult transitions. I was impressed that the authors (both college profs) used lots of research in putting the book together (see the references) without cluttering the pages with it. I am not a frequent Amazon reviewer, but after reading this thorough but brief resource, recommending it to several colleagues, and pulling it down from my shelf already to re-read a section relevant to one of my current subordinates, I felt compelled to recommend it to other managers and leaders. One of the few books on developing junior talent I've been glad I paid for.

Too academically preppy for me...
This book may prove valuable if the reader has little or no background with self development and leadership as it relays a lot of truths from those areas with respect to mentoring.

However, this book is just not my style. I prefer down to earth, straightforward advice without excess words. My style may not be yours...if you find the following three sentences valuable this book may be for you.

1. "Reinforce creativity while tempering over-expansiveness with reality and pragmatics."

2. "Allow the protege to serve as your emissary at times--shielded by your reflective power and functioning on your behalf."

3. "Understand that your affirmative narration will be quite meaningful to your protege and that it will strengthen the mentorship bond."

I read this book front to back and there is a significant amount of repetition. This book is best suited as a reference...if you have an issue or an interest use the index to just read about that particular topic.

good book
i skimmed through this book and was very impressed. it pointed out to me how i should mentor as well as pointing out how i should be mentored. i learned what has been missing in the mentoring that i receive. i am hoping that it will help me ask for the type of mentoring that i want and need.