Get the facts

“I get by with a little help from my friends...”

Success is not reached alone. Find out about the help these well-known people had on their way to the top.

Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood is an iconic American actor, film producer, composer, and Academy Award-winning film director.

"I've had many mentors in my life, I suppose starting with my parents. My grandmother on my mother's side was always encouraging. She always thought I was going to be something, when nobody else, including myself, thought I was going to amount to anything."

Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou is an author of contemporary literature.

"Mrs Flowers took me to the library in the black school. The library was probably as large as a telephone booth. It may have had 110 books in it, maybe. She said, "I want you to read every book in this room." And I found poetry. And I loved it, I just loved it."

Ray Charles

The late Ray Charles was a musician who was said to be 'instrumental in the invention of rock and roll'.

"Wiley Pittman, he was a cat. I mean, if it hadn't been for him, I don't think I'd be a musician today. We lived next door to him. He had a little café, a general store, and he had a piano in there. Every afternoon around 2pm, 3pm, he'd start to practise.

He started to teach me how to play little melodies with one finger. And, of course, I realize today that he could've said, "Kid, get away from me, can't you see I'm practising?"

But he didn't. He took the time. Somehow he knew in his heart, this kid loves music so much, I'm going to do whatever I can to help him learn how to play."

These examples come from Harvard University's project, Who Mentored You? Discover more famous mentoring pairs on their website.

Mentoring myths

Hard work and one-way traffic? Rethink your views on mentoring here.

Mentoring only happens face to face
Not true! Modern technology means mentoring can happen by email, telephone, or in online communities.

A mentor needs to be older than the person they are mentoring
Not true! Younger people often have experiences to share and your peers may be useful mentors too.

Mentoring takes too much time
Not true! You may need to spend only a couple of hours a week, that's less time than the average person spends watching television.

The only benefits are for the person being mentored
Not true! Mentoring is a two-way relationship, both parties can learn from each other.

The best mentors are ones who set out to be a mentor
Not true! Most mentoring happens on an informal basis, without either person being aware of it. Remember the last time you helped somebody learn something new...

The voice of inexperience...

...can often be the most enlightening. Although sharing your own experience is a really important part of mentoring, you don't have to be the wisest and oldest of owls to have the biggest impact. Remember, for all his wisdom, even Owl in Winnie the Pooh needed a bit of help with his spelling!

Here are two stories that really highlight the mutual benefits of mentoring:

When Levi Roots walked into the BBC's Dragon's Den with two bottles of jerk sauce made from his grandmother's recipe but no business plan whatsoever, his dreams looked unlikely to come true.

However, his strength of personality won the Dragons over and they decided to give him a chance. With their business mentoring support, that included their time as well as money, Levi's Reggae Reggae sauce has gone on to sell over half a million bottles.

In Germany, a pioneering housing programme has brought together several generations under one roof. Multigenerational houses (Mehrgenarationenhäuser) are drop-in centres open to the whole community that offer a variety of services for different age groups. These services range from a second-hand shop for young parents, to a programme for older mentors that helps teenagers with the transition from school to work, to a support group for 'empty nest' parents whose children have left home. Drawing on the knowledge and experience of all generations, the multigenerational houses really strengthen neighbourhood bonds and form a lively, exciting hub for community action.

Find out more at www.mehrgenerationenhaeuser.de (Please note - this site is in German)