cover image The Mentor's Spirit: Life Lessons on Leadership and the Art of Encouragement

The Mentor's Spirit: Life Lessons on Leadership and the Art of Encouragement

Marsha Sinetar, Sinetar. St. Martin's Press, $16.95 (176pp) ISBN 978-0-312-18630-2

Mentoring is not a new concept in business circles, but, as usual, Sinetar (Do What You Love, the Money Will Follow) brings a broader, more original perspective to a familiar theme. In her own youth and in the lives of many of us, Sinetar understands, encouragement comes not only from our acquaintances and relations but from ""the mentor's spirit: impersonal love. I mean by impersonal' those positive forces all around us, even from dispassionate or inanimate sources."" Using examples from her days as a public school principal and from her more recent consulting work with many businesses, she describes the necessary elements to find and be a mentor. Sinetar advises mentors to wield their influence wisely, providing a good example rather than instructing or ""training."" To the mentored, she recommends independence and the mentoring of others whenever possible. For both mentors and the mentored, Sinetar advocates strong boundaries and unflagging ""authenticity,"" ""genuineness"" or ""loyalty to what we are."" Beyond this, she assures readers that sources of mentoring exist everywhere--in art, music, stories, books, nature, movies, news, silence, learning, self-examination, meditation, parenting and so on, distinguishable to us by its power to draw out the ""integrities of our hearts."" (June)