Acknowledgments
Mentoring is a relationship-based endeavor. It is the quality of those relationships that particularly adds to its riches. Substantial relationships with a community of like-minded and experienced peers have activated us to create, shape, and implement mentoring programs and protocols. They have been spirited, innovative, and driven to ensure the mentoring work we did was of the highest caliber. From the Philadelphia Society of People and Strategy Mentoring Program, my trusted colleagues and mentoring friends include Mary Mavis, Fredy Jo Grafman, Terry Rothermel, Jim Van Horn, Doug Hilton, Erica Freedman, Lisa Duff, Gene Carroll, April Whitehead, Mark Spool, Katina Sawyer, Marcy Illich, Raymond Lee, Mary Vila, Richard Marcus, and others. Thank you for encouraging the writing of this book to show how deep attention to the mentoring process results in the most remarkable outcomes.
Few have allowed me to learn more about mentoring than the exceptional professionals who were my mentees over the last couple decades. They were willing to experiment and take ambitious actions, while also providing me with ideas and feedback. They have honored me by staying connected and allowing me to see how their lives have unfolded, including making career changes, getting married, taking big geographic moves, building families, and assuming creative and bold endeavors. Today, many are my peers, and I am grateful. While I thank all my mentees, several stand out as advancing my growth as a mentor, including Sara Rosin, Suzanne Kelso, Lori Zukin, Laura Robinson, Reena Mueller, Paula Sharkey, Paul Melniczek, and Aquin Houston.
If one’s wealth is assessed by the people who surround you, my life is filled with abundance. I am most appreciative of Bev Kaye, an icon in the field of talent management, for writing the foreword to this book. She is a gracious model of generosity. Those who backed the writing of this book, reviewing drafts and brainstorming ideas, include Diana Whitney, Christy Macchione, Fredy Jo Grafman, Barb Kryger, and Elaine Biech. As well family members and friends who cheered me on and understood my lack of availability include Elaine, Robbie, Charlotte, Mark, Paul, Andrea, Kalman, Stephanie, Barb, Jerry, Beth, Lynn, Mary Jean, Ilene, Lynne, and Mia.
The team at ATD are the unsung heroes of the talent development profession. We count on them to inspire and inform us regularly about the newest and most effective ways to develop others, yet their names rarely appear on the cover of a book. I am indebted to ATD for asking me to write this book and giving me license to present this development-centered brand of masterful mentoring. They have labored to make the book just right for you, our readers. Many thanks to Eliza Blanchard, Jack Harlow, Melissa Jones, and Courtney Cornelius.
A special thank you to Dr. Judith Glaser, in memoriam, who was and continues to be a shining light in my development journey. Her pioneering work in neuroscience and Conversational Intelligence is changing the world for the better. I was enrolled in an executive coaches’ certification program with her and WBECS (World Business & Executive Coach Summit) during the writing of this book, and in many ways she was a mentor to me.
Finally my sons, Jake Johanson and Aaron Johanson, are endlessly supportive. They also demonstrate considerable trust and respect for me by seeking my counsel. The deepest source of my forward journey is my husband, Dr. Andrew Johanson. Andy is my counselor, my confidant, and my muse; just about everything I do is better on account of him.