07 Aug Flipping The Mentoring Dynamic
Reverse mentoring may not yet be formally practiced in Greater Madison, but the benefits of more seasoned execs learning from younger workers are hard to deny.
The concept of reverse mentoring is not new. Jack Welch, former CEO of General Electric, popularized reverse mentoring in 1999. Welch’s pilot project brought together 500 junior and senior employees, in hopes the former could teach the latter about new technologies. “We tipped the organization upside down,” Welch explained at the time. “We now have the youngest and brightest teaching the oldest.”
Indeed, the timing for a reverse mentoring resurgence couldn’t be better, with COVID-19 creating a paradigm shift that won’t soon be undone.