Where did the true business mentors go?
Where did the true business mentors go? 
A fabulous two days have gone by at work in which a business leader taught around 20 industry professionals about his life time work and experience. What a wonderful experience. It was not until a colleague pointed out to me that I realized true independent business experts and revolutionaries are almost extinct. Industry specific fundamental knowledge exists only in bigger business enterprises among a few elite people whose purpose it is to preserve this knowledge for the business enterprise. It makes expert experience and skill resources scarce for anyone who is new to business. What is good for the business enterprise is really not so great for anyone new to the industry wanting to learn from the ground up.
What can be done about this? Well, for starters try learning from any such business mavens. Encourage them to mentor less experienced folks. If you can afford it, hold roundtable workshops with them. They typically have fun teaching classes and workshops. Who would not want to be part of such fun learning events? I hope we can do so many more of these events in the future.
Ralf
