Mentorship Rethink

The new way to obtain the get-ahead career advice you need.

- Samantha Leach, Halie Lesavage

Most young professional women have heard that to succeed (and especially to succeed fast) you need a mentor – someone who will show you the ropes and pave the way for your advancement. But the idea that a female senior executive can teach you everything you need to know about your career and your future is right up there with believing Beyoncé is in the illuminati. There’s no doubt that female leaders can be helpful (and we need more of them; only 5% of the world’s largest companies have a female CEO). But virtually every career path today is much more complicated than the old up-the-ladder route; you need a village to navigate it all. “Modern mentorship isn’t about looking to just one person; it’s about cultivating a group of people,” says Sallie Krawcheck, CEO of a digital investment platform for women. “They might be senior to you, your peer or even your junior. They could be in your company, outside of it, male or female. Having a series of diverse perspectives is what helps you to succeed.”

New groups and technology are trying to help. OKReal (okreal.co) brings together ambitious young women (both digitally and in real life) to problem-solve issues in the workplace, from pay gap to sexual harassment. Bumble’s Bizz mode lets you swipe to connect with powerful businesswomen. But if you don’t have access to networking groups, or the ones you know aren’t right for your particular career, what do you do? Start with these new approaches.

STOP LOOKING FOR A FULL-SERVICE MENTOR