Baby Boomer’s Mentor Problem: Their Trusted Advisors Grow Old and Die

Who to go to for wise advice now?

President Obama declared Senator Ted Kennedy his mentor. Katie Couric and Dan Rather claimed Walter Cronkite was theirs. Just three very public examples that represent a larger demographic trend of baby boomers who have lost their mentors.

Traditionally mentors are older which means to a 50-60 year-old boomers’ advisors are 70-80 years-old. At that age their trusted guides undergo more health problems, lose the stamina to offer advice, have memory problems, spend time golfing, sailing, or die.

So what does a baby boomer do who wants to keep learning from wise people? Have a mentor succession plan to find people willing to share the knowledge or experience you lack.

Set aside the notion that a mentor needs to be older than you — go junior. Get in your pipeline niche expertise where someone knows more than you in an area. Keep connecting with new people but don’t dismiss the youngsters you’ve known for years who over time developed a substantial depth and breath of experience too.

Old people have stories but young people have technology. If you get behind in the current technology, you will really be behind in the next big thing. When you connect with younger people, you get the advantage of their age group and where they are going.

Mend fences. You need all the people you can find in your circle of experienced advisors. That may mean apologizing, setting aside grudges, or taking steps to reconnect with people you’ve excluded. As you age and mature, set aside or clear up past misunderstandings.

Become a mentor to more people. Be the wise and trusted counselor to an up and comer. You give back plus you learn when you teach. “I was his mentor, and then he got smarter than me. And now he’s mine,” says one boomer.

Turn to books. Autobiographies, biographies, and self-help books open your eyes. The worldly wisdom it took the author years to capture and record, you get to acquire in the time it takes to fly from New York to Los Angeles.

Seize the wisdom of remarkable mentors around you today. Take notes, listen, and remember so you can call upon yourself for answers from their utterances. And so their voice is never lost video them and carry around on you iPhone.