Mentorship: The Dissemination Of Experience

There are some exciting new developments in Ashoka India’s work with youth.  Perhaps most notably is the development of an alliance with SAP and Ashoka Lead Changemakers in a way that sees multi-directional mentoring take place with corporate volunteers, social entrepreneurs, and youth actors.  Ashoka is working with these partners to create a prototype for cross-sectorial and cross-aged collaborations that will be necessary for the maturation of an ecosystem that nourishes changemaking amongst youth.  Given the heavy emphasis on mentoring that will be happening, now is an appropriate time to share some philosophy and history about mentor relationships.

Introduction: Mentor vs. Crusader

When the Greek hero Odysseus went to fight the Trojan war in Homer's Odyssey, his dear friend Mentor stayed at home to help raise his son, Telemachus.  The relationship that ensued while Odysseus was away for twenty years was not purely paternal; Penelope, Telemachus' mother, was present for that.  Mentor did not did dictate the rules by which Telemachus should live his life, as one's father might have done, instead he shared with him the wisdom that had come from his rich experiences in life.

A tradition similar to mentorship has been present in Indian history in the form of the guru relationship.  Like a mentor, a guru is not always someone who dictates what to do or how to live, but rather embodies experience and wisdom, and shares it.  The very etymology of the term guru can be translated into “dispersion of shadows”; hence the name guru is given to someone who can shed light on matters .  A guru guides one on the path towards enlightenment.

In the Medieval era, the Christian states of Europe launched The Crusades against the primarily Muslim Middle East.  Although the campaigns were politically motivated, they were driven by a conviction that Christianity was the one righteous way, and that heathens could be saved by the teachings of Christianity.  While conviction can be an admirable attribute, its power can be devastating, as men who are convinced they are right or superior must “teach” those who don't share their knowledge.  Like a mentor or guru, the crusader believes he is sharing his enlightenment.

The absence of a perceived superiority is what separates the guru or mentor from the crusader.  A guru or mentor has experienced certain aspects of life that they pass on to the mentees, enabling them to derive their own conclusions from the experiential knowledge of the mentor.   The crusader forces his own, often foreign, perceptions and values on subjects.  A changemaking crusade will be met with coercion.  Change cannot be pushed upon people, but rather it must use existing cultural traditions and values to assimilate into people's lives.  Naturally, people will resist change that comes in a purely foreign form.  As India has a long tradition regarding the guru, mentorship will be a valuable, culturally relevant tool for spreading the changemaking movement.

Three Kinds of Changemaking Mentorship

Mentoring is not only a crucial skill for any leader to learn, but access to mentor relationships is also an imperative to any successful ecosystem that flourishes with changemakers.  Three levels of mentorship need to be provided by a changemaking ecosystems: the more traditional relationship between more matured people and young people, the mentorship of children by youth changemakers, and a two-way exchange of knowledge in peer-to-peer mentorship.  Mentorship can take place as an inter-organizational or internal relationship.  It may require just two people, the mentor and the mentee, or be a complex web of group relationships.  All types of mentorship provide an opportunity for young people to learn from the experiences of at least one mentor and then draw their own conclusions based on such leanings.

By Elijah Monroe