Mentoring and Your Career:
Readings and Articles

Chandler DE, Kram, KE. Enlisting Others in Your Development as a Leader. In: Self‐management and leadership development. Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc; 2010: 336‐361.

This is an excellent article highlighting the role of relationships both in enhancing a person’s ability to lead and in accelerating a person’s leadership learning. The article starts off with a case study of two individuals in a corporation who both have leadership potential but end up having very different leadership outcomes. It then describes a three‐phase process of “self‐managed leadership” in detail, with frequent use of examples drawn from the two individuals introduced in the case study. The three‐phase process focuses on i) self‐awareness of values, personal motivators, strengths/weaknesses, and assessment of “fit” within an organization; ii) “savvy” for nurturing relationships; and iii) creation of strategic developmental networks.

Kram, KE, Higgins, MC. A New Approach to Mentoring. The Wall Street Journal. September 22, 2008.

This article highlights the need to move away from a single, one‐on‐one mentoring relationship towards the building of developmental networks to keep up with rapidly changing technology and to navigate the challenges of globalization, a multicultural work force, and team‐based decision making. The article also argues that better outcomes are achieved using developmental networks at the organizational as well as at the individual level. Different types of organizations are cited as fostering this approach, and concrete strategies are offered to help individuals build such networks.