President Joe Biden’s announcement that he will nominate a Black woman to succeed retiring Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is shining a spotlight on the role mentors played in the careers of at least two possible candidates—and a reminder of the importance of mentors in the business world.
According to news reports, two of the possible Black candidates are California Supreme Court Justice Leondra Kruger and Ketanji Brown Jackson, a U.S. circuit judge for the District of Columbia. Both credit mentorship with impacting their respective paths to success.
Mentors have played an important role in the careers of several well-known business executives, as well. Mike Morini, CEO of WorkForce Software, shared recommendations with Forbes readers for engaging, motivating and mentoring the next generation of business leaders.
He noted that, “For the first time in history, we have five generations of workers in the workforce. Answering the need to engage, motivate and mentor the next generation of leaders requires companies to offer personalized experience—at scale.”
Morini says that “there is no ‘one size fits all’ answer” because employers tend to be dealing with multiple types of working populations, in addition to cultural and geographical differences.
“To account for that, we must ensure that our employees are engaged, motivated, and have access to resources. These methods are key to leading and managing talent and supporting a positive employee experience for the next generation of business leaders,” he said.
Additionally, Morini cites the importance of leaders and mentors being transparent, demonstrating empathy, and implementing new workforce management tools and systems – which are all steps to offering workers more autonomy over their roles.