Bequeath + Evolve
Reexamining old rules.
Jack + Andy
Their mentorship was two-way right away.
Years after Jack and Cliff worked together in Illinois, Jack could still recall the powerful influence of his mentor. The boss that so many men in the office had found intimidating was one that Jack remembered as a fatherly figure. Cliff had nurtured Jack, challenged him, and invited him into important settings, meetings, and decisions. Many years later, it was Jack’s turn to mentor. But time and circumstances meant he had to do some things differently.
Jack eventually became the director for the high school athletic association in Michigan. When he assumed the top job, Jack established a library in the state office, and encouraged staff to be well-read. He continued to write, and asked others to write to clarify their own thinking. He did what he could, he said, to emulate what had been done for him by a stern, but warm, man in a suit. Cliff had modeled for him how to be a mentor.
Andy worked at the Michigan association for just a short time before leaving for graduate school out of state. He remembers finding Jack “intimidating” in those years: accomplished, polished, and deeply reflective. Andy observed in Jack someone who seemed to understand his own philosophy, the history of the organization, and to have those things “in his bones.” Andy remembered, “He knew why he was doing everything.” He also saw Jack was too senior to interact with on a regular basis. Yet, when Andy approached Jack with questions, he was surprised at how open this senior director was to interacting with a junior staff member.
Their mentoring relationship began when Andy reached out while away at graduate school. He wrote to Jack about his future, including how he was considering a career in high school sports. Jack, to his surprise, wrote back, and an old-school correspondence began. This senior, polished, intimidating figure took on what Andy recalls was a “fatherly touch.” He described, “You felt like he was putting his arm around you.”
Over time, Andy expressed an interest in returning to Michigan and the state association; Jack invited Andy to write a job description. Years before, Jack had created a new department, which just handled communications, a big departure from the era of typing up old-fashioned press releases. Andy had the idea to infuse this relatively new department with the changing technology of the time. They discussed delving into something called digital media.
Jack was open to the idea, but wanted staff to clarify their thinking. Jack had Andy write up a plan. Andy recalls they were well-matched, with the mentee’s curiosity about all aspects of their organization and how it functioned meeting Jack’s well-articulated philosophies and rationales about how and why their shop did everything it did.
Andy remembers Jack as an “amazing” public speaker. Jack invited Andy along to several engagements, including showing his mentee his preparation process: his notes, how he practiced his remarks. Jack brought Andy to meetings on how rapidly changing technology was impacting their work and questions about athletic eligibility. Andy laughed when he said Jack used to call the junior man his “translator.”
Their communications department became more digital, using growing technology to interact directly with the public, including the students themselves. Jack remembers, “I thought he was young… but that he could relate to this new generation of athletes.” Jack said their relationship was two-way right away, that he appreciated Andy’s youthful perspective, and that listening to him “was always part of the agenda.”
Over time, Andy’s responsibilities grew more diverse. Developing a leadership course for student captains. Managing all of the logistics for a particular sport and its postseason tournament. Reexamining old rules. When Andy felt overwhelmed, Jack always assured him he could do it, that there was more room on his plate.
Andy said Jack’s response was consistent: Write a plan. Writing, Jack, thought, would bring clarity to thinking, and push mentees proposing ideas to consider important details of their proposals. It was also, his mentees’ said, an example of his openness to their new ideas, evidence of Jack’s eagerness to learn from his junior colleagues at a time of great change in their field.
Mentors have something to teach mentees. But flipping this on its head can benefit both the mentor and the mentee. In a series of studies, Ting Zhang1 from Harvard University and colleagues Dan Wang and Adam Galinsky of Columbia looked at the impact of mentors having what they call a downward learning direction, or an orientation towards learning from mentees. Their studies found not only an increased sense of engagement from mentors when they were interested in learning from mentees, but also found that mentees felt more supported and reported they got better advice. Perhaps most importantly, this study suggests that this orientation can be learned, in part through simple directions to mentors and in part through exercises like perspective-taking, or learning empathy, with your partner.
Various companies have put this into practice since the time when the Michigan association was going digital. Jennifer Jordan and Michael Sorell wrote in Harvard Business Review about lessons companies have learned through programs called “reverse mentoring” efforts. They show that creating deliberate, two-way learning programs supports not only executive learning, but also engagement of younger employees2. They describe companies facing a real challenge in engaging new talent and learning about the changing marketplace in which they compete; mentors with learning orientations help to address both those challenges.
The period when Jack was mentoring Andy was one of tremendous change. There were fewer jackets and ties in the office. More women and people of color. Everyone was known by their first name. Technology made communication more direct, and more of a two-way street. Jack carried tremendous lessons from his own mentor, Cliff, but also knew he had to do things a bit differently, including learning from his mentees at a time when the world was changing the work. Andy remembered that Jack adapted by trying to put the right people in the right places, make sure there was a well-communicated philosophy for what they were doing, and then got out of the way and let them teach him something new.
Zhang, T., Wang, D.J., & Galinsky, A. D. (2023). Learning down to train up: Mentors are more effective when they value insights from below. Academy of Management Journal, 66(2), 604-637.
Jordan, J. & Sorell, M. (2019, October). Why Reverse Mentoring Works and How to Do It Right. Harvard Business Review, https://hbr.org/2019/10/why-reverse-mentoring-works-and-how-to-do-it-right