Are there cultures or professions where it's common to have mentors? by Kyle Phoenix

 

Yes, they are but in multiple forms.

All of your k to 12 teachers are mentors but most only listen to them on one level. Often when people reflect about meaningful teachers, they relate the teacher speaking more expansively. Any teacher who tells you more than the book is a mentor.

Books are encapsulated mentorship because generally they relay a lot of the thinking the person was using.

Sitting Bull then becomes your mentor.
Golda Meier shows you how to construct a society.

If you're smart , really smart you've got at least a hundred mentors sitting in your personal library. Ironically if you don't have a library, you probably need mentors. For the past 14 months Michael Gerber has been mentoring me through a business systems rehab. Inch by grueling inch. I expect it to be a two year process.

To find adult mentors means you must edit your company. You must make the Wagon of Success you're pulling as empty of detrius people as possible because mentors take up a lot of space. They also won't be in easy to access places because they are learning, practicing so it's like you are parachuting onto a moving car. You have to be sure of your questions, interests, etc and stand out.

The Adult Education programs at Columbia fizzled out just as I arrived in 2009 so I thought how can I give into this situation, stay in the river while it reorients? I started teaching. At first for free and then I batted that out of the park then they said Brookfield comes to town twice a semester, his classes will fulfill. By his first class I had bought six of his 14 books. Day 2 the other 8 arrived. I then took his classes, the same ones at least four times each. He's that good. He then mentored me about teaching, consulting, publishing, writing, business and dying parents over the course of the past few years.

Undergraduate several moons before that I was a sophomore and a friend mentioned a professor Carlene Hatcher Polite that I might like who taught writing and literature classes. But one had to audition their work and it was only for Juniors and Seniors only. I dragged a five foot duffel page full of binders and notebooks, auditioned and got a special exception to get in. The next semester Carlene made me her first TA in fifteen years. There are no undergraduate TAs, a special waiver was created for me. She then introduced me to Raymond Federman who I became a TA for----he would leave me to teach his class when he was out of the country during Drop/Add.

Mentors are often eccentric by if you full court show up they will see you and draw you in closer because they know they gain more power from your enhancements. Your augmentation is proof of concept.

They exist in all cultures and professions, they tend to be odd to the system. Look for the ones who seem to have freedom and liberty that others don't. But there are millions. Then approach with a smile and a question and know the suggestion they give is a test to see if you're serious.