Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Reverse Mentoring Revisited

You're probably very familiar with the concept of mentoring, the principle of the older and wiser instructing the younger and less experienced.

Reverse mentoring assumes a completely opposite perspective on learning. Earl Creps' book "Reverse Mentoring" is a guidebook for older (ahem) leaders like me who want to experience a new richness of personal formation that only comes from the generations of young leaders below us in age.

I've written about Creps' work before: here, here, and here. I had to stop because it was getting all over me. Now, some months later, I'm picking it up again because, well, I'm in a season of reverse mentoring.

Part of the season is due to my church's current series: "One Generation Away," a focus on the power of a generation to change the world.

I would like to think I can be a part of that generation.

Not the younger generations around us - I don't think you can turn back the clock. But my generation can invest in, learn from, and serve with this current generation of young leaders.

Re-reading "Reverse Mentoring" this week, I came across this quote:

Reverse mentoring is cross-cultural in that it actually uses the unlikely possibility of a relationship to benefit both parties through mutual learning from honesty and humility.

That makes me think...

...and dream...

What about you?

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