Toy Box Leadership (Part 3) Play-Doh

Today we look at Play-Doh, that messy clay-like material that we've all molded, shaped and in some cases eaten in our childhood.

The metaphor is used here to show mentorship and it's value in the leader's life.

"The next time you're in a meeting take a can of Play-Doh....When you set it down, look at the material (you've played with) and one striking result will be your fingerprints all over the surface. When you allow people to mentor you, they too will leave their fingerprints."

As I read this I had to think if I had been intentionally mentored by anyone in my life. The short answer is no! I don't remember a time in my life when a leader took me by the reins and said "I'm going to teach you how to do this or that." However, I've been mentored by some great leaders as I've watched them and emulated them and their styles.

I've also been impacted by some poor leadership too and I can see some of their fingerprints in my life too. Luckily I've been able to minimize their impact in my life and have learned from those experiences.

"But you should never confuse mentoring with duplication. Good mentors do not wish to duplicate themselves"

This was a good reminder to me that in leadership we should seek to bring about the best in people and not necessarily duplicate ourselves and our styles in people. Great thoughts here.