From Me to You (and to Me, too): Malignant Mentors

It’s easy to give advice. I think I find it easy to take advice too.

But for me to heed the words that I say to others? Not so easy.

So this one is for both of us.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been sharing thoughts about my past mentors. Many are amazing people who had a positive impact on my life. And then there are… the other ones. The ones I had to overcome, glide around, avoid, or endure until I could build an exit ramp and escape their influence.

This week I am writing about three more heads of the mentoring Hydra that can be labeled as malignant mentors.  

Your relationships with this type of would-be mentor might actually start as beneficial, and they might seem supportive to you and your career. However, the malignant mentors can become toxic and destructive. These people are not as benign as the missing mentors, and not nearly as manageable as the mismatched mentors that I have written about in the past few weeks.

Relationships with malignant mentors can be destructive, leading not only to loss of control over your career, but can also cause damage to your reputation, crushing your self-confidence, and possibly even cost you your job. The damage might come from personal attacks or vendettas, or simply from them standing in your path. Either way, malignant mentors do exist and must be handled with care and skill. 

I wish I were exaggerating. I’ll go into more detail this week, and please feel free to add your own stories to validate mine! Malignant mentors can harm or slow your development. Keep your hands on the wheel!

You’ll be glad you did.

(And so will I!)

Come back tomorrow for more!

#Mentoring #WorkplaceDynamics #CareerAdvice #Leadership#Badmentor