All great Leaders have Mentors & Mentees

Trying to do great things is difficult. Trying to do them alone is, more often than not, impossible. That's why all great leaders have Mentors, and also mentor others. No matter how competitive you may feel – especially early in your career – success is, in reality, a team sport.

Steve Jobs had Bill Campbell as a mentor; Mark Zuckerberg had Steve Jobs; Bill Gates had Warren Buffett. Hopefully, I've successfully convinced you that you are never too successful to need a mentor. But what exactly can you expect to get out of it? Why should you mentor someone else, no matter how busy you are?

4 Essential Tips To Becoming A Better Leader

Here are some of the biggest benefits you'll get out of mentorship – no matter which role you play.

You'll be pushed out of your comfort zone

Every great leader does something that no one else in their field, or even the world, is comfortable, ready or skilled enough to pull off. Maybe it's something big, like inventing a new piece of technology – or maybe it's something that seems small, like offering flex time to your employees in an industry where that's difficult.

While your relationship with your mentor depends on your unique personal relationship, there are a few main characters that those who choose to mentor naturally fall into. A few of the more common ones are:

• The Challenger, who asks questions about whyyour comfort zone is the way it is, until it no longer exists.
• The Cheerleader, who relentlessly boosts your self-esteem and confidence until you feel brave enough to stop over your own boundaries.
• The Coach, who is a wizen veteran providing the knowledge you need to innovate – or overcome the same adversity they did.

Before you start looking for a mentor, consider what it is you really need out of the relationship. Base your search off of that, and be honest when you connect with potential mentors. If you're approached to mentor someone else, consider what would most help them grow.

Learn how to accept and give feedback

One of the hardest situations in a professional setting is giving constructive criticism. So many of us find it very difficult to give feedback in a way that is neither insulting nor patronizing; exacerbating the problem is that many of us react to any negative feedback either as a challenge or an insult.

Having a mentor means you're literally asking someone to give you criticism all the time. This means that you'll need to learn how to accept that feedback – which will serve you not only in the context of that relationship, but in every other situation in which someone else has a stake in the quality of your work (hint: most times).

For the mentor, that also means that if they aren't yet skilled at giving criticism in a way that comes across as helpful rather than abrasive, they'll have plenty of time to practice to make the relationship work.

Having a Confidant reduces stress

Mentors do more than give advice and help brainstorm – they act as a confidant that you can unload your problems with. They'll listen, help you dissect exactly what's bothering you, and provide support as you think of solutions together.

On the flip side, when the mentor is under stress, they can use that situation as fodder for a learning exercise for their mentee. Both the mentor and the mentee benefit from the stress reducing power of the relationship, because at the heart of it, they're friends who trust each other's capability and good judgement more than most.

Mentorship is all about forming a great relationship centered around a mutual passion. While there are plenty of similarities to friendship, understand that in order for the relationship to really reach its full potential, it must be more than that: you must achieve total honesty, perfect your communication, and connect frequently. It's a lot of work, but if you do it right, your career will soar to new heights (and that goes for both of you).

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This article was originally published in May 2017, in the leadership insights on forbes.com. It was written by Brian Rashid, one of the world's top branding and messaging experts, CEO and creator of "A Life in Shorts," a modern day branding, digital media, and communications company, servicing clients ranging from the biggest global brands to new solo entrepreneurs trying to get started. You can view the original article here.