Category Archives: Mentoring & Other Business

TEDx Bay Area 2014

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I very much enjoyed attending my first TEDxBayArea, hosted at Amazon Lab126 in Sunnyvale, California. I was invited by TechWomen mentor Francine Gordon and was happy to meet many sister TechWomen mentors there, including Eileen Brewer who got to speak to the audience for a minute at the end.

Having had some days to reflect on this exciting educational and networking event, here are the presentations that made the most impression:

  • Jackie Tabick (Rabbi in UK): “The balancing act of compassion” (2009 recorded TED talk)
  • Barbara Bogatin (Cellist at Marin Chamber Soloists): “The Art of Failure”
  • Leslie Blodgett (Creator, bareMinerals Cosmetics) and Colaine L.A. Roepke (self at self): “Let it go: An experiment in forgiveness”
  • Dr. Clifford Saron (Assoc. Research Scientist, UC Davis): “Compassionate Empathy: What children with autism have to teach us about our world by entering theirs”
  • Liza Donnelly (Cartoonist and Columnist at Forbes): “Harmony Through Humor”

If you get a chance to attend a TEDx, do it!

16 January 2015 update: Read the web writeup on the event – including several tweets by me!

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Images Copyright 2014 by Katy Dickinson

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TechWomen Delegation to South Africa – Preparations

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Last night was the potluck holiday party for TechWomen, the professional mentoring program for women in Africa and the Middle East, an initiative of the US State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. TechWomen is run by the San Francisco office of the Institute of International Education. Dozens of mentors from Silicon Valley companies arrived (despite dire storm warnings) to enjoy each other’s company, celebrate the promotion of Arezoo Miot to Director of TechWomen, admire the newly-remodeled IIE offices, and to start discussions for next month’s Delegation to South Africa.

We also celebrated our new alumnae: Heather Ramsey and Trish Tierney (former executives for IIE) who have a new non-profit startup called WAKE International (Women’s Alliance for Knowledge Exchange).

I am looking forward to planning my first trip to South Africa!

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Images Copyright 2014 by Katy Dickinson

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InovAtiva Brasil Wins Big!

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This week, I received good news from Marcos Vinícius Souza, Innovation Director (with Brazil’s Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade), and leader of the InovAtiva Brasil mentoring program for entrepreneurs. You may recall that I was in Brasil in July to lead an Everwise design workshop and to help recruit InovAtiva senior mentors.

InovAtiva selected 74 startups for the final program round who enjoyed a huge success when they presented to investors and large companies. This was considered the largest pitch session ever in Brazil. InovAtiva Brasil also just won a prize: “Best Innovation in Public Administration – 2014”. This important honor was awarded by Brazil’s National School of Public Administration/Ministry of Planning.

I am very proud to have contributed to this successful program!

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Images Copyright 2014 by Katy Dickinson

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Checking MinaBox Downloads

Elon Musk

9/16/2015 update: Several of the documents in “Mentoring in a Box” have been updated and are available by Mentoring Standard.

I enjoy starting my work day checking download status on our inbound marketing software, sorted by source:

  • Organic Search
  • Referrals
  • Social Media
  • Email Marketing
  • Paid Search
  • Direct Traffic
  • Other Campaigns
  • Offline Sources

I announced the first eleven “Mentoring in a Box” documents to 25 pre-registered customers on 18 November, then posted three additional documents on 3 December.  So far, there have been 161 views and 122 downloads. I hope to exceed 200 downloads during the first month. “Mentoring in a Box” presents best practices and structure for small mentoring programs.  This is not the stuff of best sellers, but for those who need it, MinaBox material can be extremely useful.

To get “Mentoring in a Box” free:

Jay-Z on Failure

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Maynard Webb Webinar: “The Future of Talent”

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Maynard Webb knows about the future of work and talent like no one else:

  • New York Times best selling author of Rebooting Work
  • Yahoo! Chairman of the Board
  • Salesforce.com and Visa board member
  • Former COO of eBay
  • Legendary Silicon Valley company builder and angel investor

In his Everwise webinar, Maynard will answer your most pressing questions around the future of talent.  11 am Pacific, 2 pm Eastern: Register for the 11 December Everwise webinar!

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Expert Mentoring Advice: Best Practices / Worst Practices

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I think this has been the single most popular 1-page mentoring summary I ever published:

“Best Practices / Worst Practices” may have been published in other places as well – please tell me if you see it!
12/27/2014: another reference published by talentmanagement360.com.

To get “Mentoring in a Box” free:

  • Sign up using the Mentoring in a Box Registration (registration allows Everwise to follow up with updates)
  • Once you have had a chance to review “Mentoring in a Box” material, Please take this short survey so Everwise knows how to improve.

9/16/2015 update: Several of the documents in “Mentoring in a Box” have been updated and are available by Mentoring Standard.

Steven Spielberg

Sara Blakely

“Expert Mentoring Advice: Best Practices / Worst Practices” is adapted from “Sun Mentoring: 1996-2009” SMLI TR-2009-18, by Katy Dickinson, Tanya Jankot, and Helen Gracon. Copyright 2009, Sun Microsystems, Inc.. All rights reserved. Unlimited copying without fee is permitted provided that the copies are not made nor distributed for direct commercial advantage, and credit to the source is given.

Links updated 13 June 2020

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Mentoring in a Box

Sonia Sotomayor

9/16/2015 update: Several of the documents in “Mentoring in a Box” have been updated and are available by Mentoring Standard.

For several months, Everwise has been developing “Mentoring in a Box” materials, to present best practices and structure for small mentoring programs. Some of the content is original to me, other materials were created by Everwise President Collin Schiller and the team.  Other sources include TechWomen Emerging Leader Seham Al Jaafreh (from Jordan), and material adapted from my Sun Labs Technical Report “Sun Mentoring: 1996-2009”.

To get “Mentoring in a Box” free:

  • Sign up using the Mentoring in a Box Registration (registration allows Everwise to follow up with updates)
  • Once you have had a chance to review “Mentoring in a Box” material, Please take this short survey so Everwise knows how to improve.

Everwise “Mentoring in a Box” contents:

  1. Mentoring in a Box: Read Me First (PDF)
  2. Everwise Partnership Kickoff Guide (PDF)
  3. Everwise Getting Started Guide (PDF)
  4. Metrics Tracking Spreadsheet Template (Must Be Copied to Use)
  5. Mentoring in a Box – Mentoring Program Manager – Resources (folder)
    • 5.1 Mentoring Program Manager – Overview and Contents (PDF)
    • 5.2 Mentoring Program Manager – Basic Guidance (PDF)
    • 5.3 Mentoring Program Manager – Templates and Samples – Letters and Emails (Must Be Copied to Use)
    • 5.4 Template: Kickoff Call Agenda, Presentation Contents (Must Be Copied to Use)
    • 5.5 Everwise Mentoring in a Box, Sample Spreadsheet: Protege Roster (Must Be Copied to Use)
    • 5.6 Template: Pilot Program Candidate Selection (Must Be Copied to Use)
    • 5.7 Sample Pilot Results Report (PDF)
  6. Everwise: Mentor Recruitment (PDF). 9/16/2015: an updated version has been published by Mentoring Standard.
  7. Expert Mentoring Advice: Best Practices / Worst Practices (PDF). 9/16/2015: an updated version has been published by Mentoring Standard.
  8. Everwise: Mentoring vs. Coaching vs. Sponsorship (PDF). 9/16/2015: an updated version has been published by Mentoring Standard.

More materials will be added as they are developed.  Suggestions and your comments are most welcome!

Maya Angelou

Sheryl Sandberg

Links updated 13 June 2020

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