The
authors have conducted a two-year study of how new CEOs in large organizations
gain access to seasoned counsel and feedback. Although these leaders have
usually experienced mentoring earlier in their careers, arrival at the top
suddenly narrows the available and appropriate options. To keep raising their
game—and having their thinking usefully challenged—CEOs need wise mentoring.
They’re finding it, the authors learned, by turning to high-profile veteran
leaders from outside their companies. But these arrangements have some tricky
aspects: Special considerations must go into matching mentor and mentee,
structuring their sessions to deliver the intended benefits, and prioritizing
the process so that it isn’t crowded out by other demands. Total
confidentiality is an absolute necessity—as are regular meetings—and
storytelling is the mode of knowledge sharing both parties usually prefer.
“Most interesting to us,” the authors write, “was the psychological boost that
mentors’ war stories seemed to give new CEOs.” [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]