摘要：C hances are at some point in your life you've been involved in a mentoring relationship, either as a mentor or as a mentee. Asking advice, giving advice, and teaching someone new skills are all hallmarks of mentoring relationships that we engage in daily— either consciously or subconsciously, formally or informally. There are a variety of ways, models, or concepts to use to think about these relationships: teacher: student, employer: employee, master: apprentice, team leader: team member. While these models all strive to define mentoring relationships, we think the best model for discussing the value and complexity of mentoring relationships is a family tree. When the word "mentor" is used, it often connotes a "mentor with a capital M"— that is, a formal, structured relationship. This is certainly a common mechanism for mentorship. Mentoring, however, comes in all shapes and sizes—or from all branches of the family tree, if you will. Within a family tree there may be formal and informal mentoring relationships or peer mentoring relationships. From what is learned in those relationships, advice and guidance are passed on to the next generation. The receiving generation builds on that knowledge and continues to pass it on, creating a series of grand- mentees and great-grand-mentees. The advice and guidance we pass down is like that old family recipe passed from generation to generation. You know the one, written in your great-grandma's handwriting on a faded sheet of paper covered in flour. The recipe with writing in the margins; some notes in faded ink, others freshly written as each person adds more advice or tweaks the recipe to make it better. And because of that individualization, the notes on your copy might differ from those on your great- aunt's, your mother's or your brother's
