Work

Speaking

Mentoring: Creating Mutually Empowering Relationships

Stanford Center for the Advancement of Women’s Leadership

While mentoring is often viewed as one person giving and the other person receiving, Stacy Blake-Beard, Professor of Management at Simmons College, defines mentoring as a mutually empowering relationship where both parties learn and benefit. Blake-Beard offers insight into the importance of developing mentoring relationships that are based in both similarity and difference – where individuals can build common ground and learn from their differences. She explores the challenges that come with navigating difference and addresses how to overcome roadblocks that can hinder individuals from giving and receiving critical feedback. She also discusses the role differential access can play in influential mentoring relationships and offers strategies for how to start effective mentoring relationships.

The Power of Mentoring as a Transformational Process

TEDx Presentation at Ursuline College

In her insightful talk, Dr. Stacy Blake-Beard, Professor at Simmons College, shares the importance of mentoring as a transformational process. Drawing on her experiences as both a mentoring research scholar and as a recipient of powerful mentoring relationships, Dr. Blake-Beard points out several critical points. There are many different roles that mentors can represent, from inspiring family members to professional icons to peer mentors. Dr. Blake-Beard highlights the importance of diversity in your network of mentors. She offers a seven-step process for identifying potential mentors. She uses art from her experiences and her travel to illustrate the ability of mentoring relationships to push boundaries, challenge processes, affirm progress and celebrate accomplishments. 

If you enjoyed watching these videos and are interested in bringing Stacy to your organization to speak, virtually or live, contact Stacy >

In her years as a consultant and scholar-practitioner, Stacy has built a reputation for being a warm, engaging, thoughtful, articulate and informed public speaker. From TEDx to Stanford University’s Voice & Influence series to private speaking engagements for companies, nonprofits, governmental agencies and other organizations, she has a knack for connecting deeply with her audience, inspiring self-reflection, educating with a light touch, and winning over hearts and minds.

Stacy speaks on a wide range of topics, including:

Stacy’s speaking sessions draw on a variety of pedagogical and rhetorical tools and are always highly interactive. Whether she’s speaking with 50 people or 500, the audience should be ready to be engaged. A scholar at heart, Stacy draws heavily on the literature and vetted bodies of research published in her areas of expertise, so her audiences always get well-grounded content and perspectives that are informed by contemporary dialogues about leadership, mentoring, diversity and inclusion.
In the spirit of audience engagement and connectedness, audience members leave Stacy’s talks with a few gifts that are inspired by the sharing of wisdom that happened in the session. Most importantly, reflecting Stacy’s belief in helping people put knowledge into action, audiences also leave with concrete lessons and tools they can put into practice to enrich their personal and professional lives.

If you’d like to talk about how I can help your organization and its people become the best they can be, please get in touch.