6 Traits You Should Look for in a Workplace Mentor

Does the perfect mentor exist? In Disney’s 1940 film Pinocchio, we get a glimpse of what that could look like when the Blue Fairy appoints the charming and level-headed Jiminy Cricket as the young puppet’s conscience. She defines his role as “lord high keeper of the knowledge of right and wrong, counselor in moments of high temptation, and guide along the straight and narrow path.” Jiminy Cricket is as humble and loyal as he is entertaining and loving, which is everything you would want in a mentor, right? But as a conscience, Jiminy Cricket’s role demands a level of devotion you would be unlikely to find in your average mentor, and the task of guiding Pinnochio through the cobbled streets of Italy is a rather different challenge to navigating the pressures and stresses of the workplace.