Eric Liu
In the spirit of National Mentoring Month and the upcoming Guiding Lights Weekend, I wanted to share with readers my email interview with Eric Liu, author and founder of the Weekend.
Liu shares with us that the Weekend, though primarily targeted to those seeking to become a better leader or manager, is nevertheless a great opportunity to network with some diverse leaders in American and open up your mind to the possibilities around us!
Who is the Weekend’s target audience?
Anyone who wants to become a more skilled leader, mentor or coach.
Please share with me why the Guiding Lights Weekend would be a good investment for a job-seeker?
The Weekend is both an event and a community: you'll learn useful skills in management and talent development, but you will also make great and diverse connections and expand your network.
If you could share something with job-seekers today, what would it be?
Open up. Engage in mindful and playful connection.
What advice can you give to job-seekers that are losing hope of finding gainful employment or to those in unstable jobs or industries?
The spirit of the Weekend is "we're all in this together" -- if you're losing hope, join us and recharge your sense of purpose.
What message would you like to share with new graduates?
Set habits now of voracious lifelong learning. As you get deeper into career, it gets harder to bust out of your silo.
What message would you like to share with those re-entering the workforce?
Be unabashed about seeking out mentors, asking people for guidance or to share their own story of how they got there.
What would you say to those disheartened by all of the news about unemployment and lay-offs?
This is one of those times that reveal what our character is as a community: we created the Guiding Lights Weekend so that especially in dark times, people can find hope by rekindling their sense of possibility and their connection to something larger than themselves.
How can the average Joe find a mentor to help him in his personal and career paths?
Everyone around you, in every encounter, can teach you something -- don't look for The One great mentor; try to pick up lessons everywhere you go.
Comments