Mountain and valley
I've been volunteering as a mentor for university students / young working adults for several years. These programmes typically last about half a year, and conclude with some kind of closing or capstone event. Most mentoring relationships tail off fairly rapidly after the programme ends. But sometimes, it grows into a long term friendship, in which we continue to learn from each other for years. Those are the ones where you can see that we've made a real difference in each other's lives. In any self-improvement programme, or even in any relationship, mentoring or otherwise, there are going to be highs and lows. I remember feeling quite inspired myself when I attended an executive management programme several years ago. These programmes typically include some form of coaching/mentoring, on top of the lectures on leadership, purpose and so on. The programme was amazing. Truly a mountain top experience. The question is, where do all the buzz words like "North Star",...