Ellen A. Ensher & Susan E. Murphy 
Power Mentoring 
How Successful Mentors and Proteges Get the Most Out of Their Relationships

Written to reflect the realities of today’s business environment, Power Mentoring is a nuts-and-bolts guide for anyone who wants to create a connection with a protégé or mentor, or to improve a current mentoring relationship. Filled with illustrative examples and candid insights from fifty of America’s most successful mentors and protégés, Power Mentoring unlocks the secrets of great mentoring relationships and shows how anyone (including those who are well established in their careers, or those who are just starting out) can become a successful mentor or protégé. Based on compelling interviews from Ellen Ensher and Susan Murphy’s own research, this important resource explains what it takes to develop a ‘power mentoring’ network consisting of a variety of mentors across a range of organizations and industries. The authors provide strategies for establishing such power mentoring relationships, outline the best practices, and offer insights from mentors and protégés in a variety of fields including technology, politics, and the media.

Table of Content

1 Introduction to Power Mentoring 1

Who Are Our Power Mentors and Protégés? 3

The Changing Career Landscape 13

Overview of the Book 21

2 The Many Faces of Power Mentoring 26

Classic Versus Contemporary Approaches to Mentoring 28

The Many Types of Power Mentoring 45

Conclusion 64

3 Mentoring as a Two-Way Street: 67

Benefits of Giving and Receiving

Give-and-Take in Power Mentoring Relationships 68

Road Map to This Chapter 70

Meet the Power Mentors and Protégés: 71

Stories of Give-and-Take Summary of Benefits for Protégés and Mentors 96

Conclusion 100

4 The Mind of the Mentor 102

Mental Models: The Philosophies of Mentoring 105

The Mentor’s Attraction to the Protégé 116

The Perfect Protégé 121

Tests and Challenges 125

Conclusion 136

5 The Protégé’s Perspective: 138

How to Get and Keep a Power Mentor

Initiation and Attraction 140

Developing Trust in the Mentoring Relationship 142

Identifying a Power Mentor 152

Cultivating the Art of Impression Management 155

Developing a Goal-Oriented Attitude 157

Forming Connection Strategies 161

Conclusion 173

6 Unlocking the Secrets of 175

Great Power Mentoring Relationships

Building Blocks of Effective Relationships 177

Defining Moments 190

Deepening the Mentoring Relationship 196

Conclusion 208

7 Power Mentoring and You 209

The Relationship Development Plan 210

Conclusion 253

8 Conclusion: What We Have Learned About Mentoring in Today’s Work Environment 255

Turning Everyday Mentoring into Power Mentoring 256

What We Know About Effective Mentoring Relationships 256

What We Are Still Learning About Mentoring Relationships 260

The Lessons of Power Mentoring for Formal Mentoring Programs 262

Getting a Formal Mentoring Program Off the Ground 268

Conclusion 271

Appendix A: The Interviewees 273

Appendix B: Studying Power Mentoring Relationships 303

Notes 313

Acknowledgments 333

The Authors 339

Index 343

About the author

THE AUTHORS

ELLEN A. ENSHER is an associate professor of management at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California.

SUSAN ELAINE MURPHY is an associate professor of psychology at Claremont Mc Kenna College and the associate dean of the Henry R. Kravis Leadership Institute in Claremont, California.

The authors will donate 50% of their profits from this book to three mentoring organizations: Big Brothers Big Sisters, Covenant House, and Special Games.