Speed mentoring? I was not even familiar with the term until asked by the organizers if I can offer mentorship to young scholars during the Schwarzman-Rhodes Symposium on “Public Leadership in the 21st Century: Ethical, Local, Global and Connected” at Oxford University (26-28 Oct, 2018). However, interacting with four scholars over a period of one hour (fifteen minutes with each) proved to be an interesting experience. Three of them are studying at postgraduate level (Comparative Education and Refugee Studies at Oxford, Biomedical Engineering at Cambridge), and another is already working at Microsoft in the USA. They had almost similar questions that I wondered about at the beginning of my own professional life.
Do not know if my reflections will support the young people in their careers in any way, as we all gain professional maturity by going through various experiences and each person’s journey is different. But it was useful for me to have an opportunity to crystallize my thinking on what it takes to make a meaningful contribution in one’s chosen field while continuing to learn and grow. The library of Rhodes House was buzzing with scholars of different generations exchanging ideas-quite unique!
