The Advertising Women of New York [AWNY] honored mentors and mentees
Thursday November 8, at their annual Impact Awards Luncheon at The New York
Hilton, which drew 200 attendees. Keynote speaker Bridget van Kralingen, SVP
Global Business Services, IBM, shared tips on how to be a mentor, as did
several Impact honorees, including executives from Kraft, Hearst Magazines, AOL,
NBC Universal, TED, LVMH’s Lisa Hawkins and Pamela Baxter, and Dior’s
 Terry Darland. Here, the top
five mentoring tips to come out of the event.

1. Mentoring
never stops: Never stop giving it, never stop asking for it. And,
it’s a two way street: It takes work. The more you put into it the more you get
out of it.

2. Aim for a broad spectrum of mentors and multiple conversations.
Tap your clients and colleagues, from PR to advertising to marketing, for their
help in filling your skill gaps.

3. Behavioral feedback is a gift. Tell someone about their unprofessional
or unflattering behaviors, which they are likely unaware they’re committing. For
example, sighing or eyeball rolling during meetings, or hunching forward during intense
conversations, should be quashed.

4. You never know where your mentor will come from, so take the
meeting you’d rather not attend, you never know who you’ll meet.

5. Find a mentor who dreams big. Make sure he/she makes you feel
confident and believes you can make a difference.