“Mentoring” Ain’t “Managing”

Some people still don’t get this one.

Could write one million words on this topic — and in the process, bore the hell out of everyone reading — but instead, I’ll take a quote from this Fast Company article and we’ll go from there:

You already know this — but employers are crying out for fundamental skills in job candidates, like eye contact, positive attitudes, emotional intelligence, communication, and collaboration. Recent grads have been working on their GPA and hard skills — but haven’t taken courses in people skills. Employers today are more concerned with EQ than GPA. This means we must take time to mentor them, not just manage them. To earn a return on investment from younger staff, we have to actually make some investment. Instead of just giving them a task, also give them your time.

Yep. Couple of things:

1. Mentoring ain’t the same as managing: Mentoring is about connection, guidance, and coaching. Managing is…