Is my role relevant anymore?

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Is my job function still relevant? Is my business becoming a dinosaur? Relevancy questions that often come up when we are in the verge of disruption. The question is one of concern, one laden with uncertainty and doubt. More often than not, the timing of the question becomes a tad late.

When I was a project manager a few years ago, I used to get such existential questions a lot from fellow project managers who are used to waterfall style of software development. If you are in the technology industry, especially in Silicon Valley, you could probably relate to the fact that many tech companies are moving away from Program Management Office towards a nimbler Agile style development approach. Nowadays the lead engineer takes on the role of a scrum master and drives the work product delivery. Although the fundamentals of project management has not changed, the title has.

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Why Mentors are Important in Your Career

Mentor

A few months ago, John Donahoe (eBay CEO) wrote a LinkedIn article that talked about how instead of trying to learn a lot from a few people, he had to learn a little from a lot of people.  It is definitely worth a read.  Check it out.

Specifically in that article, when I read the following sentence it resonated with me at many levels:

“I realized the perfect Yoda-like mentor didn’t exist, and no one person had all the wisdom I was seeking….”

In his post, John references mentors and managers interchangeably.  In my opinion managers can be mentors. But mentors does not have to be your managers.  Luckily I had the good fortune of having some great managers and mentors.  Spanning approximately two dozen years working for small to big companies, I have had nearly 20 managers in my career so far.  Most of them turned out to be great mentors.  Also in my career as a project manager and then as program manager, I was fortunate to interact with some amazing leaders who I consider to be my mentors as well.
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