Personal Mentoring – A Blossoming Industry?

Personal Mentoring is an industry undergoing heavy growth in recent years as the reemergence of delegating begins to hit personal development. It’s hard to initially figure out whether this is something we should be lauding or some we should be frowning upon. Should we be encouraging the proactive step of hiring someone who will work with you to develop yourself, or should we see it as a sign of apathy towards personal development?

Well, Loral Langemeier seems to think it’s a good thing. Loral Langemeier has a large presence in the online mentoring field, and her company has grown so large that she now has a team to actually provide coaching classes to clients. Recently she plugged her new book in The Huffington Post:

“In my upcoming book, Put More Cash In Your Pocket, I show you a simple and straightforward approach that will help you put more cash, $1000 or more a month, in your pocket in no time. I’ve helped thousands of people make extra cash fast — people from all different backgrounds, in a variety of situations, all over the world. People just like you. And I do it by helping you to make your life bigger, not smaller.”

This sort of elevator pitch sets Loral Langemeier up as a ‘make $$$ with my book’ “Guru” rather than a considered and professional adviser. However I don’t think that spot truly reflected what Loral is about, and in any case. In fact, a proactive approach to starting a new business, as she recommends to those who buy her book, is a good decision that I recommend to others everyday.

Many have spotted the irony of hiring someone to help you with ‘personal development’, however what I’d say to those people is this: Have you ever read a personal development blog? Have you ever read a personal development book? If so, then in the same way you have allowed others to influence your personal development. And so on consideration, I believe that hiring coaches makes as much sense as reading a good book on the subject. Receiving good knowledge from a mentor can only aid your journey.

What about the fees that these coaches charge? Well, I believe that the decision to hire them is clearly down to the individual. Many people do believe they’re getting good value for money from coaches, and hence the industry has continuing. You cannot really place a value on being inspired, and this means that everyone has a different opinion on how much a life coach should cost.

Ultimately, I don’t see the growth of the life coaching industry as a sign of apathy. In fact, that people are willing to spend up to £100 per hour on a coach to aid them to do so, only reflects the increased importance people have actually placed upon it!

Leadership Mentoring – Developing Your Own Style

When you were working yourself up the ladder undoubtedly there were days when you had to drag yourself to work. It wasn’t because of the job or your team mates; it was because the managers said the same thing day in and day out. Motivation was low and the word fun was non-existent

The shoe is on the other foot now and you can make a difference if you think about those rough days in the past. Typically there was one manager with charisma and motivation that gave you energy and motivation causing you to look forward to the day ahead. If you were smart, you realized this and stored it in your memory bank for the future. I am not suggesting that you emulate them totally but remember the experiences gained to develop your own leadership style.

Let me share an experience, when I was a young man I worked with a leader that was incredibly demanding. He daily challenged me, I would learn something new and the next day was proud and wanting to show him I knew my stuff. He without fail would ask me something entirely new and different. It took me quiet a while to fully respect and understand what he was doing for me, developing me into a leader. I thought I hated him but in time I realized he was the greatest mentor of my life. That was his leadership style and it worked, on me anyway.

Several years later I was fortunate to have another mentor that was a walking motivational machine. He was the most inspirational person I had ever met and fortunately for me I was the one he selected to groom. He made work a thrill teaching and sharing his wealth of knowledge.

I soon realized that one leader can make the difference in countless ways. I took a lot from both of these men as both had the same goal but different styles of accomplishing it. The first leader made me excited about coming to work to exhibit my talents while the second one honed my skills motivating me how to expand my knowledge and experiences. I didn’t emulate either one totally but admired and respected each equally and learned how to make a job enjoyable.

This is an article from a guest author – Ron Kirby. You can learn more about him on his profile page at http://www.egsebastian.com/RonK.