Mentors
Each fellow candidate in the Cook Leadership Academy is paired with a community mentor for the academic year. The candidate and mentor work as a team, helping the candidate tap their potential and think about ways they can improve their leadership skills to best reach their goals. Mentors come from many sectors of the community including non-profit, business, and public backgrounds. Each is dedicated to supporting student learning by providing insights into our group of future community leaders.
“When discussing our own leadership styles that we had learned about over the course of the year, we both discovered that we show empathy often. Since we both lead this way, we often show empathy in other aspects of life, and even with each other. I had gotten to know my mentor very fast, and I feel this is due to us showing empathy to one another. I would not have been so open with her if I didn't feel comfortable and supported by her; I think this is the same in the workplace.”
—
Emma, CLA Fellow
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Mentor Meeting Resources
New This Year!
We are excited to share fresh, updated mentor materials for you to use throughout the mentorship program.
Mentor Modules
Mentor Module 1: It's a Pleasure to Meet You!
The goal of this first session is for you to get acquainted with your mentor/mentee and to establish both goals and plans for communication and regular meetings going forward.
Mentor Module 2: Defining and Identifying Leadership
Leadership is a combination of strengths (who you are) and abilities (skills you’ve learned) applied to specific circumstances and contexts (actual behaviors and interactions). Conceptualizing leadership as behavior also implies that leadership can be learned and taught. Your conceptualization of leadership is likely to affect the way you lead, so we’re going to spend some time developing that understanding.
Mentor Module 3: Addressing Ethics in Leadership
Your previous meetings up to this point may have focused on the strengths and ideas that make you an effective leader, but it is just as important to understand the moral dimensions of how you view leadership. The purpose of this meeting is to explore your understanding of ethics, and how you’ve encountered ethical (and unethical) leadership.
Mentor Module 4: Choose Your Own Adventure!
For this session, discuss with your mentor/mentee which of the following modules you would like to focus on. Choose a module that aligns with your development and conversation goals. If you know of an additional activity or discussion guide that you think would be beneficial, you are welcome to use it. You can also use this time to dive into more career-focused conversations.
Mentor Module 5: That's a Wrap!
If you’re already to this point, you’ve completed the first-year mentoring curriculum, and the academic year is quickly drawing to a close. As you prepare to conclude your mentoring partnership this year, we invite you to take some time to reflect on this experience and celebrate the conclusion of another academic year.