Programs | CEO Update

What advice would you give your younger self? Oprah Winfrey is famous for posing this question to highly accomplished professionals at the height of their careers. While they cannot go back in time and take their own advice, they indirectly give it to the television audience and that’s the whole point. There are lessons to learn and mistakes to avoid repeating when wisdom is shared. In the association world and across industries, mentoring is the perfect vehicle for helping others learn from both your successes and failures.

The transfer of knowledge from seasoned professionals to newcomers can help fill a skilled labor gap, aid in succession planning, advance organizational growth and help industries move forward.

While some mentees participate in a formal mentoring program, sometimes finding a mentor requires being in a space that attracts the opportunity, such as a networking event.

Whether formal or informal, the mentor/mentee relationship can be a game changer for both parties. The mentor brings hard-earned wisdom to the relationship and the mentee, a fresh perspective.

Pay it forward

Mark Dorsey feels lucky to have had several mentors throughout his career. Two in particular — Pam Hemann, a past chair of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), and Stephen Over, his former boss of 17 years at American Snow Sports Education Association — remain lifelong confidantes.

“Both of these folks saw something in me to be developed and created opportunities, especially if I got bored or restless,” said Dorsey, CEO of the Construction Specifications Institute (CSI) in Arlington, Va. “Sometimes I didn’t even know I was being mentored, that’s kind of the way it works.”

Dorsey, a CEO Update Roundtable member, said he doesn’t know if he would have found the opportunities that they presented to him on his own. “They put me in positions to not only learn but also were there to help counsel me through failures,” he said. “They created the kind of enduring relationship and work ethic that I think you have a responsibility to pay forward, if you’ve been successful in a given profession.”

And that’s exactly what Dorsey is doing at CSI with CSI Connect: online communities facilitated through Higher Logic software that connect experienced professionals with industry newcomers. Members post questions on the site and receive responses quickly, Dorsey said, creating virtual connections that often turn into deeper relationships that are anchored at face-to-face meetings.

“It’s facilitated at first like modern dating. It tends to start electronically, and then certain relationships deepen based on the need and their mutual backgrounds,” Dorsey said.

CSI also has an online community dedicated to connecting local and regional leaders who are going through similar experiences.

Younger and older generations connect, as well as members across different professions. CSI’s 6,500 members include all the individuals involved in a construction project, from architects and engineers to contractors, owners and the specifiers who bring them all together.

Walk the talk

It’s satisfying for Kevin Burke to see head lobbyists in Washington, D.C., presidents of trade associations and other prominent professionals, whom he informally mentored as their boss, be successful.

“I do believe the road up is paved with people who are willing to take the time and effort to see your potential and guide you in a way that will help,” said Burke, CEO of Airports Council International - North America (ACI-NA). “That’s what I do to give back.”

Burke walks the halls of ACI-NA Washington, D.C., offices and randomly knocks on employees’ doors to check in. If they have questions, need advice or want feedback on their ideas, he gives them answers based on his 23 years of experience as a CEO and shares tricks of the trade. Those impromptu visits allow him to do for others what several industry role models previously did for him.

All of the commercial airports in the U.S. and Canada are members of ACI-NA, Burke said, noting 100% of international and 97% of domestic flights go through those airports.

Externally, Burke, a CEO Update Roundtable member, mentors students by lecturing at universities and through his past membership in the Bryce Harlow Foundation, which teaches graduate students about the business of advocacy. During his talks, Burke shares his test for determining whether you chose the right career: “How do you feel at the end of the day? You might be tired but when you wake up in the morning, are you anxious to get back to work? If so, it means you love what you do.”

Host a Mentor Day

Endocrinologists who love what they do decided to share their excitement with the younger generation at an event that always inspires them: the Endocrine Society’s annual conference.

Amid discussion about how to recruit the next generation of endocrinologists, members of the society’s clinical affairs committee had an “aha” moment, said Mila Becker, chief policy officer at the Endocrine Society in Washington, D.C. They realized that having an endocrinologist mentor them early in their medical careers inspired them to join the field, either as clinicians or researchers. With that in mind, the inaugural Mentor Day at ENDO 2023 in Chicago was launched.

The organization invited 100 medical students and residents from nearby medical schools to expose them to aspects of the career outside of their curriculum. Seventy-five students and 25 mentors registered and participated. Mentors asked students: What do you know about the industry? What would you like to know? What are you interested in? Then interactive sessions were held to delve deeper.

Mentees wore continuous glucose monitors throughout the day — the devices that people with diabetes use to monitor their blood sugar — to learn firsthand how the technology benefits patients. They spoke to clinicians who treat patients with diabetes, one of the most prevalent endocrine conditions, and listened to “rock star” endocrinologists speak about why they chose the field. Mentees participated in curated sessions with their mentors, who were available to answer questions afterward. They also attended small, informal poster sessions, where endocrinologists presented recent discoveries and observed scientific meetings centered on big, exciting topics.

Afterward, mentees were offered a free, one-year membership to the society, giving them access to its journals, webinars, clinical resources and their mentors throughout the year.

“People really took us up on that,” Becker said. “They are logging in, looking at information and attending these webinars.” The society will hold the event again at ENDO 2024 in Boston with an expanded group of participants.

“We created something that wasn’t just a one and done, but extended beyond the day,” Becker said. “It helped build a relationship between the participant and our society.”

Utilize mentoring software

Members of National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) use mentoring to develop the next generation of industry leaders, encourage professionals to stay in the field and help one another problem-solve. “Formalizing a mentorship program is a great way to solidify the fact that the professions you represent have growth opportunities,” said Shawn VanDerziel, president and CEO of NACE.

In early 2023, the Bethlehem, Pa.-based association transitioned its longtime mentoring program from hands-on to digital by installing Qooper mentoring software. The system matches mentors and mentees based on their profiles. Two-thirds of NACE’s approximately 17,000 members are career services professionals at colleges and universities and one-third, early talent recruiters for large employers.

Qooper gives each person multiple candidates to choose from, VanDerziel said. Once they select a match, it carries them through the process with checklists, conversation starters, activities, a way to log meetings and other resources.

“The people who have used it so far love it because it creates a more formal way to interact,” VanDerziel said. “It takes the guesswork out of mentoring and helps each party set expectations about their roles and how they might leverage each other.”

That give-and-take is important, he said, because there needs to be something in it for the mentor as well. “Mentees can bring fresh perspectives to challenges old and new, as well as keen insights about how other organizations operate and emerging trends,” VanDerziel said. “This provides mentors with a sense of purpose and a spark for tackling their work with renewed energy.”

Pass the torch

More than seven years ago, the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) started a mentoring program to transfer knowledge from one generation to the next, said CEO Larry Sloan. AIHA members are occupational environmental health and safety professionals. They help keep workers safe by identifying hazards in the workplace, like chemicals or noise, and developing strategies to reduce the associated risks.

The program matches mentors with mentees from the same industries, areas and DEI categories. Meetings can be virtual, widening the pool of participants, Sloan said. It also puts them in the position to earn a variety of credentials, like Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH).

Over the years, AIHA has offered different iterations of its mentoring program. In 2023, it updated the program and rebranded it as AIHA Mentoring Institute, to meet the unique challenges that newcomers and early-career professionals face. The benefits of participation work both ways. Oftentimes, mentors inform mentees of internships, which may not be publicized, or early-career professionals on how to study for the CIH credential. And mentors earn continuing maintenance points toward renewing their CIH certification.

How to find a mentor and mentee

Potential mentors and mentees can be found in all the usual places: work, networking events and industry associations. But establishing the relationship should be approached with care.

American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) CEO Vicki Deal-Williams advises young professionals in search of a mentor at networking events to focus on being interested in what others have to say, as opposed to being interesting. It makes a difference. “Being interested puts you in circles with people who will then start to ask you questions,” she said. “And to be curious puts you in that same kind of situation, where people start to see things in you.”

ASHA, based in Rockville, Md., tries to provide mentoring across the organization for anyone who wants to enhance their career track or professional skills.

If time is an issue, “a good approach is to ask a potential mentor if they’d be willing to have a conversation once a quarter, to be a sounding board in terms of your career goals and next steps,” Deal-Williams said.

She also recommends finding multiple informal mentors to help you grow in different areas of the job. For example, a supervisor might mentor you in leadership or a peer mentor might demonstrate how they provide services to a particular patient.

AIHA’s Sloan, an ASAE Fellow, recommends finding a mentor through ASAE, which has a variety of mentoring programs. Sloan recently met a young professional at a networking event who was looking to become a CEO. She took Sloan’s advice for how to position herself during interviews and, as a result, was chosen for a CEO position. “It made me feel good that I played a small role in helping her land the position,” he said. “As an ASAE member, I have a responsibility to step up and be a mentor.”

Qualities to look for in a mentor

Early in her career, Deal-Williams had several mentors guide her to acquire new skills, and sponsors who gave her opportunities or suggested she apply for certain jobs. She said it’s important to make the distinction between a mentor and a sponsor. “A mentor is a person that’s guiding you and providing support,” she said. “Whereas a sponsor is taking you by the hand, opening the door and pulling you through it sometimes.”

In general, mentoring is about relationship building, Dorsey said, and being willing to be mentored yourself.

“It’s not the old-school, mentor-mentee relationship like Yoda and Luke Skywalker, the wise one and the youngster. You understand the common basis for the relationship. You gain clarity about what each of you want from it and fulfill those needs through active listening, questions, reflection and self-discovery.”

Over the years, each of Dorsey’s mentees has challenged his traditional ways of approaching problems. Whether it’s career growth, the importance and impact of a social media presence or work-life balance issues, he appreciates the differences in their journeys.

“The mentor/mentee relationship isn’t so much about finding the one right answer,” Dorsey said, “but exploring scenarios and possibilities through our respective lenses.”