“Mentoring can get you straight to your goal” is Milton Chang’s (2014) article highlighting the significance of mentorship in stimulating the achievement of career goals. Mentors are knowledgeable individuals, always available to provide guidance and assistance to the mentees through a mutually beneficial relationship. According to Chang (2014), mentorship’s voice of experience enhances people’s ability to plan their careers more effectively instead of adopting a trial and error approach. However, the impact of mentorship can be subverted by the coaches’ selfish interests or mentees’ inappropriate attitude. The author’s thesis is that mentees who are keen on accomplishing their objectives should adopt an enabling mental orientation and engage altruistic individuals who are driven by a desire to help without expecting anything in return.
Chang (2014) advances various key argumentations and refutations on mentorship’s ability to spur the accomplishment of defined objectives. A principal argument in the article is that mentees should enlist altruistic people as their mentors. Without such a charitable and generous spirit, a genuine, long-lasting partnership cannot develop. Chang (2014) posits that mentees ought to “engage altruistic individuals who want to be helpful and want nothing in return if you want the relationship to last” (p. 124). Additionally, the exchanges between the two parties should be intellectual “so your mentor learns something from you” (Chang, 2014, p. 124). A major refutation advanced in the article is the mentees’ know-it-all attitude, which impedes constructive engagement and repulses mentors.
The article’s implication is that it amplifies the centrality of altruism, intellectual discourses, and rapport in enhancing mentorship’s role in spurring the accomplishment of career goals. Consequently, mentees should endeavor to engage selfless people as their mentors as an indispensable pillar for a genuine relationship. However, a major setback of the article is the extensive reference to personal experience as the foundation for the recommendations and the absent integration of relevant or contrasting publications. An outstanding research question arising from the article is how mentors can effectively identify altruistic and charitable people as their mentors.
Reference
Chang, M. (2014). Mentoring can get you straight to your goal. Laser World Focus, 50(1), 124.