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Thank you for being part of our 2013 and for your continuing support and engagement. We are thankful to the many experts we interviewed this year. Their wisdom has stimulated our thinking and we are "regifting"it to you as our special holiday gift.
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TOP EIGHT TIPS FROM OUR EXPERTS
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Number 8 
We loved Michael's five leadership tips on strategic insight.
- Hyper-focus on "central issues." Avoid the temptation of being side-tracked by issues that are interesting but not essential.
- Get feedback. It is easy to be seduced by the stories you tell yourself as to why you are succeeding or failing.
- Ask why. Keep peeling the onion back; there is always more to learn.
- Test your insights. Find out what your customers or clients really think about your products, organization and you!
- Get a mentor to help you develop your most important tool - you!
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Number 7 
We agree with Beverly's insights about the importance of feedback.
Imagine the possibilities if every employee were clear about where they stood. The answers to simple questions make the biggest difference:
- What am I good at?
- Where are my opportunities to improve?
- Where can I make the biggest difference?
- What can I do more of?
- What should I do less of?
- What should I continue doing?
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Number 6 
Margie shared some amazing information about how the brain influences goal achievement.
Our brains do not distinguish between an imagined future and present experience. This means mentees can use their brains to experience goal achievement before it happens. Encourage your mentee to visualize their future actions. The act of visualizing an event stimulates neural activity that mimics the actual event. It will help your mentee develop the skills they need to get to the next level.
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Number 5  Here are five of Chip's "must-do's" that resonate for us.
- Mentoring is about establishing a partnership that helps your mentee learn. It is not about being an expert or the authority.
- Great mentors foster discovery, they don't instruct. Thought-provoking questions are much more powerful than smart answers.
- Your mentee will learn more if you create a relationship that is safe and comfortable.
- Your rank or position is your greatest liability. Build a relationship of trust that encourages your mentee be open.
- Focus on helping your mentee transfer learning back to the work place.
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Number 4  Dr. Kochan's insights about how culture influences mentoring relationships are spot on.
Understand how culture influences your mentee. It is key to a successful relationship. Culture is a filter for how we see and interpret the world. It influences our words, actions, and interactions.
- Become more culturally and aware by exposing yourself to learning about other cultures.
- Engage in conversation with people from other cultures in an open and honest manner.
- Talk with you mentee about their personal values, attitudes and actions from a cultural perspective.
- Become more self-reflective about your own values, biases and beliefs from a cultural perspective.
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Number 3  We were inspired by Dr Parks' take on creating and sustaining mentoring communities.
We are social creatures drawn to community. If mentees are going to have the courage to create new pathways, they must know that they are not traveling alone. There will be a "we" that is more than me-and-my-mentor.
The challenges we will face require a steep learning curve and will require more than any one individual's response. The power of the collective has the potential to trigger transformation.
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Number 2
Dana shared her secrets of success with us.
We are entering a whole new age that Pink calls "the conceptual age." The complexity inherent in it will require more than just logical-linear thinking. We will need to engage our hearts and our heads to make a difference. Help your mentee by asking questions that tap into both feeling and thinking.
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Number 1
Words of Wisdom from Maya Angelou
"People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
In the last analysis, what counts is relationships. This time of year brings to mind those people who have guided, strengthened and supported us in our development. It's a great time to reconnect and express your appreciation. Thank you everyone.
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To read back issues and/or see the full version of the interviewee's eletters for both Mentoring Matters and The Leading Edge, please visit our archive here!
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