[snoman]

And they never will with that kind of attitude.

Personally, I was fortunate enough to have a mentor when I was starting out and it rocketed me to a strong position in my career and I couldn't be more grateful. I try to actively mentor 1 or 2 people a year as a result.

It's been mostly very successful so far.

[dozzie]

What does it actually mean "to have a mentor" or "to mentor somebody"? What kind of activity is this? Because I constantly see people talking about it, but I've never seen a satisfactory explaination.

[snoman]

The dictionary does a pretty good job of defining it, though it omits something pretty important in practice. That is, to mentor is to advise or train someone.

The omission there is that there are, mostly, concrete goals that the mentee aims to achieve, and the mentor is personally invested in a successful outcome.