On Mentoring

The philosopher Socrates mentored his student Plato.  Aristotle was mentored by Plato.  Socrates, Plato and Aristotle: the three great minds in philosophy.

Great leaders develop leaders.  The only way to develop other leaders is to become a better leader yourself then, mentor others.  
Good leaders grow more leaders not followers.

Trivia: Did you know that Aristotle mentored Alexander the Great?

Leading is influencing

A young associate asked me one evening,"Why do you keep sending me leadership quotes via SMS when I am not a leader?"  This young man is neither a supervisor nor a manager.
The word leader is a misnomer.  You do not need a title to lead people.  As John Maxwell puts it, "Leadership is influence, nothing more and nothing less."
If you influence a parent, you influence a family; if you influence a child, you influence a life; if you influence an employee, you influence a company; if you influence a leader, your influence their followers.
In other words, anyone who influences is a leader.  Perhaps a good question to ask would be "as an influencer am I a good leader?