Who is a silent mentor?

Mentor - the buzzword of the hour. By definition a mentor is a guide, guru, adviser, and everything in between. Imagine someone with salt and pepper hair, deep-set laugh lines and an aura of control.

Typically, here's someone who has been there, done that; you have immense respect for them. And so, they are to guide you. Help you stir your ship; make sense of the winds of change. Share insight on how you should swim through troubled waters.

That's a lot of pressure for anyone - especially once you label them your mentor. But more importantly, not everyone is lucky to have someone like this available to them through changing goals.

My first career goal was to be a magazine editor. But I hadn't the first clue. I did not know any editors, let alone anyone who worked at a magazine. I read magazines, I liked them, and so I hustled my way to an internship at India's best women's fortnightly (yes, even today).

There, I met my first mentor - one of my closest friends today. She volunteered advice and I soaked it up. I was hungry to learn and she was a true guide.

Ever since, I've always found a mentor where I went. That’s more than 10 years of attribution to the evolution of my mind thanks to someone else. Now, if you've shopped for a mentor with equity, you'll most likely scoff at this. Once you’ve looked, you know how difficult it is to identify this elusive human compass.

Enter, the silent mentor. I define this term as everyone who impacts your growth. Every single person you've worked with, junior or senior, who has helped you inch towards your goal at that time.

Goals change. Not everyone has a roadmap to where they want to be a decade from now. Not everyone can answer truthfully where they see themselves five years from now.

The concept of a single mentor is misguided. I've come a long way since my become-a-magazine-editor days. My goals have changed dramatically. I may not have always have had a sounding board but I've been surrounded by true leaders who've lived by example. And sometimes, silent mentors have been those nefarious elements who taught what not to become.

To all the silent mentors, may you continue to lead by example. And to you, for not realising you’ve been silently mentoring.

What is the future of retirement?

I confess, I’ve always preferred older people to children.

I knew only one grand-parent, my paternal grandmother. As a teen, I made sure I visited her every weekend. She told the best tales of yore. No, not Cinderella. But of when she made the best hair oil, or so she was always told, and sold them on the trains.

So you see, old people are inspirational. They don’t require half the hard-work children do. Because they come in unique, set molds. They know themselves. And more often than not, they just cannot be bothered.

So here’s a word that needs reimagining - retirement. I’m done with calling it the “second innings” or associating it with relaxing on a couch all day and reading a book. I know a few people in that age group – it’s 60+ here in India; their energy and will to learn could rival a 30 year old's. They need honest work to fill their days, just like they until they had to stop.

It’s time the workforce acknowledge that age is truly just a number. The mind is what matters. Just because one blows the candles on a certain birthday, does not make them less enthusiastic or intelligent. Imagine the mistakes made and lessons learned with so many years of living. How useful these conversations can be to an entrepreneur!

I hope to never have to retire. Rest, but never stop. There’s always going to be so much to do and so much to learn. And my idea of a holiday is already to sit on a couch and read all day, so what’s the point, really?

The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman is set in a picturesque retirement community. Elizabeth, Joyce, Ibrahim and Ron, well into their 70s, meet once a week to go over cold cases from their past lives. Until one day, the sleepy village wakes up to a murder! I absolutely adore all of the characters. They wield their senior status to have their way so cleverly. They are also whip smart and experienced, a deadly combination for anyone on the wrong side.

For those struggling with reading, pick this one up. It’s divided into small, neat chapters that you can set as reading goals and will get through effortlessly.

It only helps how funny the storytelling is. I found myself laughing out loud.

Tell me about an inspirational book you read recently that got you thinking.