Who are you mentoring?
When was the last time you intentionally helped someone else grow?
We often talk about the importance of finding a mentor — someone who can offer advice, share lessons learned, open doors, or simply help us navigate the challenges of business, careers, and life. But perhaps we should spend just as much time asking ourselves a different question:
Who am I mentoring?
Mentorship doesn’t always require a formal program, scheduled meetings or even someone asking, “Will you be my mentor?” Sometimes it simply means noticing the person who consistently works hard, asks thoughtful questions, demonstrates potential, or reminds you a little of yourself earlier in your career, and deciding to invest in them.
Throughout my own journey, finding mentors in business, work, and life hasn’t always been easy. There have certainly been times when I could have benefited from someone’s experience, guidance or perspective. Rather than allowing that experience to discourage me, I’ve let it reinforce something I believe in strongly: giving back and paying it forward.
Maya Angelou expressed this beautifully:
“When you learn, teach. When you get, give.”
That’s a simple philosophy, but imagine the impact if more of us practiced it consistently.
If someone reaches out for guidance, make time when you can. If you recognize potential in someone, encourage it even if they haven’t asked. Share a lesson that took you years to learn. Make an introduction. Offer constructive feedback. Explain some of the unwritten rules you’ve learned along the way. Sometimes what feels like a small investment of your time can have a lasting impact on someone else’s career or even their life.
And mentorship doesn’t have to be transactional. We don’t have to help someone because they may someday be able to help us. Sometimes we help simply because we can.
In construction and engineering, we spend our careers building things intended to last. But our legacy isn’t limited to the projects we complete. We also have an opportunity to build the next generation of engineers, inspectors, project managers, entrepreneurs, craftspeople and leaders.
Mentorship isn’t limited to titles or seniority. All of us have experiences, mistakes, lessons and knowledge that could shorten someone else’s learning curve.
So this month, I challenge you to identify one person you can invest in. Don’t wait for the formal request. Start a conversation. Share what you know. Encourage their potential.
Sometimes paying it forward starts with us, without any expectation that it will ever be paid back.
“When you learn, teach. When you get, give.”
