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.
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.
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.