Reverse Mentoring: Removing Barriers and Building Belonging in the Workplace

by Patrice Gordon

Overview

“You can’t help but be excited about what the future will look like, if all businesses embrace Patrice’s passion for reverse mentorship; her passion for a world in which all businesses are 100 percent diverse, inclusive, and equitable shines through on every page.”
—From the Foreword by Holly Branson, Chief Purpose and Vision Officer of Virgin Group
 
Most organizations today strive for goals such as employee diversity, inclusive leadership, and younger and fresher ideas. But how do we get there?
 
In her trailblazing Reverse Mentorship program, world-renowned executive coach and personal development advocate Patrice Gordon creates a safe and engaging culture by having senior leaders learn from junior employees. While typical mentoring programs arrange for a senior manager to teach the more junior employee, Reverse Mentoring is the opposite: it’s all about a leader leaning into their vulnerability, forming a relationship with an underrepresented employee, and amplifying the voice of marginalized people within the company.

Reverse Mentoring offers various tips to make reverse mentorship work. Gordon explores the power of uncomfortable and awkward moments becoming key points of transformation when people have to pause, reflect and assess their past behaviors and current assumptions which are at odds with the topic at hand. She ultimately reveals how bringing more humanity into our organizations allows us to see one another and ourselves in a radically new light.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780306829611
Publisher:	Hachette Books
Publication date:	11/01/2022
Pages:	224
Sales rank:	619,731
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Patrice Gordon is an astute Financial and Commercial Leader with over twelve years’ experience at senior levels across British Airways, Royal Mail and Virgin Atlantic. Her career demonstrates a wealth of experience from finance to executive coaching and latterly within the commercial airline space. She is an established executive coach and personal development advocate, specializing in Women’s Development Programs and Reverse Mentoring.  Gordon is focused on ensuring she leaves a legacy by building inclusive environments across the businesses she works with. She loves to travel and explore different cultures; her genuine curiosity of people means she is regularly referred to as “a connector of hearts” and “a bridger of minds.”

Table of Contents

Foreword ix

1 Why Reverse Mentoring Matters Now 1

2 A Foundation of Trust 31

3 The Role of Human Resources 61

4 Mentee Responsibilities 91

5 Mentor Responsibilities 121

6 The First Session-and Beyond 143

7 Acting on Insights 165

8 The Journey Forward 189

Acknowledgments 203

Editorial Reviews

Patrice Gordon reveals how a positive work culture only happens when real people—with all their flaws and attributes—change from the inside out. Reverse Mentoring shows how any business can better represent the communities, customers, and employees they serve.” —Dan Schawbel, New York Times bestselling author of Back to Human, Promote Yourself and Me 2.0

“Patrice Gordon provides a human road map to challenge policies that create un-level playing fields for non-dominant groups and subtly advantage dominant groups. Reverse Mentoring is a book full of wisdom and teachings that should be an essential part of any organization’s efforts in their strategic goals of diversity, equity and inclusion.”—Laura Liswood, author of The Loudest Duck and The Elephant and the Mouse

"What stands out about Reverse Mentoring is how relentlessly practical it is. As you read it you become excited at what might be possible; when you finish it you know exactly how to turn possibility into reality."—Drew Dudley, author of the Wall Street Journal bestseller This is Day One

From the Publisher

Patrice Gordon provides a human road map to challenge policies that create un-level playing fields for non-dominant groups and subtly advantage dominant groups. Reverse Mentoring is a book full of wisdom and teachings that should be an essential part of any organization’s efforts in their strategic goals of diversity, equity and inclusion.

author of The Loudest Duck and The Elephant and th Laura Liswood

Patrice Gordon reveals how a positive work culture only happens when real people—with all their flaws and attributes—change from the inside out. Reverse Mentoring shows how any business can better represent the communities, customers, and employees they serve.

Dan Schawbel