Everyone does need a mentor

I'll contribute from the other perspective - I have been asked to mentor a few people over the years, and I love it. I've had mentors at different points in my own life, but am currently without one. I do have a few people who I look to for advice, occasionally, almost like a collective mentor! At the moment there are two peole for whom I act as a mentor, in two distinct fields; one in academia and one in business. The challenges that they both meet are quite different, and I'm honoured that they chose me to work with them. I may not hear from them for weeks on end, or we'll just exchange 'How's things' messages, but we meet for lunch or dinner each month and more frequently if required, and I do a heck of a lot of listening and usually little talking. I find that by the very process of them having to explain their issues to me, they often get to the answer themselves, and if asked I will expect them to have at least a couple of their own alternatives ready for me to look at. I've had numerous other mentees over the years, and whilst I'm still in touch with most of them, I'm pleased to say that there have been numerous occasions when the 'pupil' has surpassed the 'master', which is the way that these things should eventually go. :-)