Great mentors and teachers help you learn faster

Great mentors and teachers help you learn faster.Eric Barker is the author of an excellent book titled “Barking Up The Wrong Tree. The Surprising Science Behind Why Everything You Know About Success is (Mostly) Wrong.”In his research he uncovered some compelling points about the power of mentors. WATCH my conversation with Eric Barker! Available to members in The Sales House today.Here are a few of Barker’s findings about the value of mentors to people like you.Having a mentor provides quantifiable benefitsA survey of executives found “The average increase in salary of executives who have had a mentor is 28.8 percent, combined with an average 65.9 percent increase in bonus, for an overall 29.0 percent rise in total cash compensation.” In case you’re wondering whether having a mentor is useful or valuable...Unfortunately, fewer people are seeking out mentorshipsA study titled “Social Isolation in America: Changes in Core Discussion Networks over Two Decades,” found that in 1985 people reported having three confidants in their lives. In 2004, the most common response was zero. A mentor is a confidant. However, they don’t appear out of nowhere. You have be proactive in finding one. This means getting out there. Networking beyond your workplace. And beyond work.Find your own mentorEmployer mentorship programs generally don’t help. A study of over two decades of mentorship research found that formal, employer sanctioned mentoring had a small impact. The real results for people came from the mentors they found on their own. That’s hardly surprising. Your mentor has to be someone you can trust and with whom you can be completely open and vulnerable.When you think you’re on top of your game, what do you do? Find a mentor to help you get better!Here’s one of my favorite stories from Barker’s book: “Atul Gawande is an endocrine surgeon. And a professor at Harvard Medical School. And a staff writer for the New Yorker. And he’s written four bestselling books. And he won a Rhodes Scholarship and a MacArthur “Genius” Grant. And he’s married with three kids. (Every time I look at his résumé I think, Jeez, and what the heck have I been doing with my time?) So in 2011, what did he think the next thing he absolutely needed to do was? Get a coach. Someone who could make him better.”Want to take the next step in your career? You don’t have to sell alone. Find a mentor to help you get there.- Andy Paul