The greatest success a mentor can impart on the mentee is confidence. Not knowledge.
Yes, knowledge often leads to confidence, but 1) knowledge is always partial (as in “the more I know the more I realize how much I have left to learn”), and 2) knowledge without the confidence to apply it is useless.
Confidence is not something that can be taught, and it is most frequently built through the overcoming of adversities. Absent true adversity, however, confidence must then be nurtured through connection and praise. A few weeks ago, I was impressed by section from an article by the Farnam Street Blog (about Scott Adams’ How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big). In it was a proposition that, as adults to other adults, withholding praise is immoral:
Children are accustomed to a continual stream of criticisms and praise, but adults can go weeks without a compliment while enduring criticism both at work and at home. Adults are starved for a kind word.

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