'Education gives knowledge, but mentoring moulds attitudes'

[dhilipkumar]

NEW DELHI: What do you see in Kiran Bedi? Independent India's first woman cop is in many ways a reflection of what she ingrained from her mentors. Surprisingly, it was she who people declined to help as they didn't want to coach a woman.

That's when Gautam Kaul, the then SSP of North Delhi, came forward to mentor her. In him, Ms Bedi found a progressive, caring and a creative senior who was always open to new approaches, taking challenges head-on and initiating change. "Being in an impressionistic age, I took in all that," she says.

It may have been decades since Ms Bedi stepped into her professional life in 1975, and things have changed. Yet the basics of mentoring remain the same, irrespective of the sector and domain and whether it's about nurturing talent for entrepreneurship or business leaders for the company. A mentor still remains a special person who has power, protection and discipline along with unconditional care.

To question things around you and not stop by saying 'at my age I can't do this' was what Subroto Bagchi's Dadamoni (elder brother) taught him early in his childhood. He was eight when he came under the tutelage of DP Bagchi, a 22-year-old teacher at the local university in Bhubaneshwar, when he went to live with him.

The junior Bagchi had gone from a small place which had no schools. He was waiting to get admission in a school in the campus. Being free, he would sneak out of the house to hang around at the university, often eavesdropping on post-graduate classes. On one such occasion, Dadamoni caught him overhearing his lecture. Instead of punishing, he asked if Mr Bagchi understood what he was teaching.

"I sheepishly explained the theory of demand and supply that he was teaching to his class. And instead of dismissing me as a child, he started explaining the theory in greater detail," says Subroto Bagchi, who's designated 'gardener' at MindTree. The basic tenet of mentoring is knowing that the understanding issues is not directly proportional to one's age.

While education can give knowledge, good mentoring gives the ability to relate it to the real world; it helps to learn life-skills and moulds attitudes. A good mentor grows as much as the person who is getting mentored, but there cannot be a one-to-one equation between giving and getting back. "Effective mentoring requires respect for the recipient's ability to grow in her own right," says Ms Bedi.

Once an idea receives transference, we have no knowledge of how it will grow in a mentee's mind and how it will shape itself as well as the receiver of the idea.

"Mentoring is not about popularity. The mentor's crucial role is to question, to push back, and to open the recipient's mind to alternate possibilities," says Nandan Nilekani, co-chairman, Infosys.

It's about encouraging the mentee to take risks, which is a must for those having an entrepreneurial streak. Most decisions in the corporate world today are group decisions, which is the safest route for a person, thinks ad guru Prahlad Kakkar.

"There are no risk-takers today. No one wants to say yes. There is a whole generation of fence-sitters being created. And to be a successful entrepreneur one needs to do just that," says Mr Kakkar who mentored Mandira Bedi when she was part of Genesis.

Mr Nilekani, who considers Narayana Murthy his guide, says mentoring has now become structured and sophisticated. He himself mentors 6-8 people at a time, keeps track of all their developments and meets up every quarter with them.

"A mentor gains experience in fishing for talent, a right approach and certain perspective in the process," he says. When a mentor is asked a question, the position of assumed superiority makes people want to give a quick, intelligent solution.

The trick is not so much to be ready with the answer, as it is to be ready with questions. Ask the questions that make the recipient discover the answer. That is the true measure of success of the engagement.