The Business of Mentoring, by Alice Henry

Alice Henry

The Business of Mentoring

For this day, we had the opportunity, to participate to a Business Journals Speed Mentoring at the Swissotel in Chicago, to discover 360 Chicago observation deck at the John Hancock building and to visit the amazing Tour of Google.
During this day, we learned about the importance of the mentoring, the volunteering and the networking in business.

 First we came to the Speed Mentoring, which took place in the Swissotel reception area. We spoke with some women who set up their business and who had an impressive career. It was very beneficial because they gave us advice to succeed and to never give up, because it’s true that the world of work, for example, in finance is very hard and unfair for women.




Then we went at the top of the John Hancock building and we saw a wonderful 360 view of Chicago with a very good weather. I had never seen Chicago like this and for a first time, it was awesome. See this city of the observation deck inspired me that, we have the chance to live in a beautiful town and I have to enjoy it as much as possible.

 

For the last visit, we moved to the Tour of Google. We discovered the daily life of Google employees, the atmosphere, the way of work, etc. Everything is put in place for the well being of employees, for example, the free cafeteria, the massage area, the fitness area… 
It was a really good experience and I think that I’ll apply for an internship over there.

 

After seeing all these places, we went to a very good vegan restaurant named LYFE Kitchen. It was a first for me and I think I would return.

During our lunch we had a guest speaker who, told us her professional experience and spoke about the importance of the volunteering. At the end of the day, we met the owner of a pastry shop named Alliance Patisserie. He shared with us his experience as a manager, he gave us advice, and he answered all our questions. It was a very interesting moment.

 

A mentor can be beneficial because he helps their mentee to find their way, to succeed in what they want and to keep their self-confidence. The mentor is a person that we can see if we feel lost, if we need advice. All the guest speakers we met told us that if they hadn’t ask to have a mentor they would never succeeded in creating their business.
But there are limits to ask help to a mentor. If you want that the mentorship be efficient, you have to be prepared, you have to know exactly what you want and be motivated. If this is not the case, you're going to waste your time and the time of the mentor too.

The professional network is one of the most important things in business. For the reason that if you don't have a network you can’t set up your business. Because it’s thanks to the professional relationship that you can have customers, you can have a good reputation, you can grow your commerce, etc. So the first thing to do is to surround you with the good people.


The companies we interacted with are really involved to provide mentorship for their employees. For example, when we went to Google we met a mentor with her mentee; they explained us that in their company the essential thing is that the employees feel good, that they have no pressure, no stress. So Google put in place a system of mentorship to help them to be efficient in their work and happier, in particularly thanks to the relaxation rooms available, the free cafeteria, etc.