Young Professional Seeks Posse of Coaches

Plato had Socrates. Helen Keller had Anne Sullivan. Timothy had the apostle Paul.

Every young person needs a coach along the way. But was Socrates it for Plato? The solus fontis of all vocational maturity?

The duo lived so long ago that we might imagine just the two of them bearing philosophy's future, with the elder imparting every last morsel of knowledge into the younger for fear that without a complete transfer, Socrates and the entire realm of philosophical thought would disappear.

But Plato had others. So did Helen and Timothy, and so do you. We gather from numerous guides.

According to the recent Businessweek article, The Misery of Mentoring Millenials, many young professionals today not only question the old one-on-one model, but add a twist of independence as well, saying, in effect, "I'm not sure that I need anyone to help me succeed, but if you insist, I'll take half-a-dozen of your brightest to invest in my future."

This and other approaches are cropping up in the workplace, such as "lean-in circles" and "reverse mentoring."

Where do you land? Read about the shift here to find out.

Image by Emilie Eagan. Used with permission. Sourced via Flickr.