The Ideal Mentor

The question in the LinkedIn group Linked 2 Leadership by John Bishop was: "Understanding the blind spots – Leader’s weaknesses and mentoring others"

I built a series of fractal models to help leaders identify their weaknesses and blind spots. The ideal Mentor is sufficiently different from you that through their influence, you can find and fix your blind spots. The links are below.

One use of fractals is to identify holes. The technique is to sub-divide an item into components, then make a pattern from the components. The pattern that emerges will have holes. In this situation: the item is you, the components are your skills, the pattern is your outlook towards life, and the holes are your blind spots. However, know thyself should only be considered the first pass. You need to compare yourself to others, or in Robert's terms, "take the other person's view." In fractal terms, you create a new pattern out of two and discover where components from one cover the holes of another.

In this situation, this is where Mentoring comes in. The ideal Mentor would be sufficiently different from you so that you can learn from your Mentor to adjust your outlook towards life (adjust your pattern) and provide vision into your blind spots (learn new skills). This can only happen if your Mentor is sufficiently different in their outlook towards life and skills for you to make a meaningful change.

My models provide you with a default pattern and list of skills. You use the model by marking your skills within the pattern. Your holes are the unmarked items or areas. My models are here ordered from simplest to most detailed:

1. Leadership Vs. Management
2. Beyond Leadership and Management
3. Leadership and Management are just the Tip...