The 2016 Oscars

Lights, Camera, Mentor!! Yes that’s right, its not only business people, CEO’s, religious leaders and politicians that mentor but the Stars do it to. Celebrities take the opportunity to mentor those they work with, by passing on good advice relating to technique, life philosophies and encouragement, all in the hope of making careers easier, more successful and meaningful and winning an Oscar of course.

 Mentorship, mentoring and being mentored lead to success by all individuals concerned and this success is evident in the face of the 2016 Academy Awards or The Oscars. 

 Nominated directors, actors and actresses, presenters and performers involved in the 2016 “Mentoring” Oscars include: Kate Winslet, Lady Gaga, Quincy Jones, Steven Spielberg and Ed Burns, Their mentoring relationships speak for themselves ….and the Oscar for Best Mentor 2016 goes to ……..

This is what some of the Stars have to say about their mentoring relationships:

Charlize Theron

“J.J. Harris was my manager for many years, and I wouldn’t be standing here today if it wasn’t for her. She was an incredible woman in my life. As far as business is concerned, she taught me what it meant to be a woman and to be able to say no — to not just take a job because you are so grateful that a man gave you a job. She used to say to me, 'it’s okay, you can say no,' and, 'you’re going to make a career on saying no.'”

Glenn Close

“My best friend is Mary Beth Hurt. My first job as a professional actress was understudying for her on Broadway. And my first film was Garp — she played Garp’s wife, and I was Garp’s mother. She’s been my inspiration throughout my career. She’s brilliant. There have been times in my career where I’ve said, 'What would Mary Beth do?' And thinking of that has led me to something good.”

Elton John and Lady Gaga

It’s not clear who is more gaga but Elton John and Lady Gaga are both mentor and mentee to one another.  Lady Gaga is godmother to Elton John’s 2 sons, while Elton continues to assist Lady Gaga in her career. Lady Gaga has this to say about Elton John, “He inspires me in ways I could not even begin to list properly, he is my friend, he is like a parent. He looks out for me, he was there for me during the hardest times in my life. He doesn't allow me to slip into depression without making sure that I’m okay. Everything he has done for AIDS, everything he has done for the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) community. He's just everything - when I’m with him, I just want to help be a part of his genius plan to save the world.”

Elton John reported in US Weekly, about Lady Gaga,” "She's a great role model, she's young, she's been a great godmother to Zachary."

Quincy Jones

Quincy Jones, the American record producer, composer, musician, television and film producer, instrumentalist, magazine founder, and entertainment company executive and humanitarian; was from the young age of 14 mentored by Ray Charles then a 16 year old musician. Jones names Charles as an early inspiration for his own music career. Charles overcame a disability to achieve his musical goals and this inspired Jones.

Steven Spielberg and Ed Burns

Steven Spielberg claims he learnt the importance of Mentoring from Jerry Lewis and Spielberg is quoted as saying, “The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.” This is exactly the mentoring philosophy that he applied to Ed Burns the screenwriter, producer and actor. Spielberg encouraged Burns to write the TV show “Public Morals” and assisted him in getting it produced.

The mentor list goes on and including celebrities from all fields including television, film and theater. Successful people from all walks of life benefit from mentoring and being mentored - the proof is in the stars. 

Valentine’s Day

Valentine’s Day is a time to celebrate love and relationships. On Valentine’s Day we can reflect on some great romances such as Marie and Pierre Curie, and Celine Dion and Rene Angelil. These two liaisons have one thing in common, they began through mentorship.

The start of these relationships were different, but in essence they had much in common. Pierre met Marie when she moved to Paris and began studying the Natural Sciences. Pierre already had an established career within the field, and took Marie under his wing. He guided her to continue and pursue her career within the academia of Natural Sciences. When she went back to Poland to visit her family, he convinced her to return and write her PHD; where she received a Nobel Prize for her discovery of the elements radium and polonium. “Pierre’s greatest discovery was Marie”. The support and encouragement that Pierre provided for Marie strengthened their romantic and mentoring relationship.

Providing your mentee with the right tools, is just one part of being in a mentoring relationship; but supporting them and encouraging them will allow both of you to be more successful.

Like Marie Curie, Celine Dion found her greatest love through the mentoring relationship between her and her music manager Rene Angelil. Celine was guided by Rene from the age of 12, where he gave her a complete understanding of the industry. At the age of 19 this mentorship changed into something more, their relationship became “one of the greatest love stories of all time”. With Rene 26 years her senior, no one really thought their relationship and marriage would work; however Rene not only inspired and encouraged Celine with her music, but helped her to develop and reach her full potential as a singer. He was amazed by her talent, and even when his health was at its worst, he motivated her to continue singing. They said the secret to their relationship’s success, was good communication, something every relationship requires.

Within a mentoring relationship, being able to communicate effectively is critical to achieving positive results. Whilst it may be difficult to achieve, it is one of the best skills you can have.

Celine Dion and Rene Angelil’s relationship had many ups and downs but they stuck together; always being open and honest with one another; which is how they remained strong. Mentoring relationships are no different, they also rely on a level of openness and honesty to build trust.

Although tragically Rene Angelil passed away, their love story will always be remembered.

Have a wonderful Valentine’s Day, we hope it’s filled with love and happiness.

Remember to sign up to MENTORS INSYNC; who knows you may find your mentor and perhaps true love.

Novak Djokovic is the current world no 1 tennis player. Who was his mentor?

That is a good question. It seems that Djokovic has had a few different people as his coach/mentor. So were they his coach or his mentor?

This brings us to the topic of what is the difference between mentoring and coaching?

Whilst coaching and mentoring do share many similarities, those who are familiar with both, agree that they are quite different. But at times it can be a little confusing as the two roles do overlap each other’s as in Djokovic’s case.

To help understand this better, we have identified some key points that identify their similarities as well as differences.

Similarities:

They both:

• Assist the individual to explore their needs, motivations, desires, skills and thought processes, to be able to make helpful and meaningful changes. 
• Help the individual to clarify their thought processes, to be able to identify the necessary solutions and actions to make positive changes. 
• Help the individual with their goals and assess their progress in relation to these goals.
• Recognize a person’s commitment to take action in order to develop lasting change and personal growth.
• Maintain a supportive and non-judgmental approach to helping the person.
• Enable the person to develop professional competence and independence.
• Evaluate the outcomes to determine the person’s success in reaching their personal goals.
• Encourage the person to develop alliances where necessary to achieve their goals. 
• Address issues within their area of competence and expertise. 

Differences:

• Coaching is task orientated where the focus is on concrete issues, such as managing more effectively etc. The coach is usually a content expert who is capable of teaching the individual to develop the necessary skills to perform better. 
• Mentoring on the other hand, is relationship oriented. It requires a safe environment where mentees can share personal information, and discuss any issues affecting their professional and personal success. There needs to be a level of trust from both sides; because today there are times when reverse mentoring may take place, and mutual sharing can naturally occur as the relationship develops. 
• Coaching is a profession where coaches are generally not required to have firsthand experience of the person’s role unless the coaching is specific and skill focused. 
• Mentoring is not a profession but a relationship, where the mentor is foreseen as an “expert” based on their life experiences. In the traditional sense, mentoring required an older and wiser individual to pass on their knowledge and experience to someone more junior or less experienced; opening doors to otherwise out of reach opportunities. 
• Coaching usually focuses on high performance and improvement within the workplace and concentrates on specific goals and skills; although at times these could impact on the person’s personal attributes such as social interactions etc. 
• Mentoring on the other hand focuses more on development, not only in relation to their current job, but also for the future. 
• Coaching is a more formal procedure; whereby the coach brings an agenda, more structure and formality to the process. They also focus on specific performance issues to be addressed within a set timeframe. 
• Mentoring relationships are more relaxed and adjusts to what the situation calls for based on the immediate need. It is also less planned and more self-directed.
• The coaching process typically lasts a short period of time either defined by a specific period of time or on the basis of an on-going management arrangement.
• Mentoring relationship tend to have more relaxed timeframes, however the relationships do seem to be based on longer term arrangements.

In professional sports, one can clearly see how these two roles may overlap one another. So coming back to Novak Djokovic, Jelena Gencic was his mentor/coach as a boy, Marian Vajda his coach/mentor and Boris Becker who seems to be more his mentor/coach.

You will need to decide which works best for you, but “one thing is clear: mentoring and coaching in the workplace have shown to contribute to enhanced performance and career development, increased compensation, upward career mobility, overall career satisfaction and greater self-esteem at work.” How Coaching and Mentoring Differ

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