Program goes beyond mentoring

“It’s like speed-dating,” says Lawrence Geller, an insurance advisor based in Campbellville, Ont., and a strong proponent of the program. “You have the ability to meet eight, 10, 12 or 20 people you wouldn’t otherwise meet. You get to make decisions about whether or not you want to see them again and whether you want to get to know them better.”

Interested parties sign up through the program’s website (www.tenthousandcoffees.com). You could arrange a “coffee date” with someone from your local community or with a fellow professional across the country, using communication tools such email, instant messaging and Skype. You could have a one-time chat or develop an in-depth mentoring relationship based on mutual interests.

The program encourages professionals with shared interests to exchange ideas in such a way that seasoned experts and novices can learn from each other. Unlike traditional mentoring programs, the emphasis is on an exchange of ideas rather than a one-way teacher/student relationship.

Next generation

The program was founded by Dave Wilkin, founder of Redwood Strategic Inc., a Toronto-based marketing firm that specializes in connecting with students and other millennials. Wilkin got the idea as a result of several conversations held with leaders from the industries represented in the program.

As varied as those sectors are, the leaders had a similar message, says Wilkin: “They all want to learn from the next generation as much as the next generation wants to learn from them.”

Geller, a mentoring advocate, agrees. The 37-year insurance industry veteran founded an online discussion forum called Mentors and Proteges, which gives financial advisors the opportunity to discuss their ideas and questions about the sector and share ideas about developing their careers. Geller appreciates Ten Thousand Coffees’ emphasis on conversation, believing the exchange of ideas will improve advisors’ – both new and experienced – understanding of the industry.

“The more often you discuss something with people,” Geller says, “the better your understanding of it. [Others will] ask questions or bring things to light that you hadn’t considered. You refine your understanding of things as you explain them.”

Staying on top of new ideas is not the only reason that experienced advisors should consider mentoring through such a program, according to Al Aube, an advisor with Investors Group Inc. in Sudbury, Ont. It is an opportunity to give back, he says, and being a mentor adds credibility to your background.

Recruitment

Aube, a Ten Thousand Coffees participant, also sees the pragmatic benefit of the program to both experts and novices. It can, for example, help an advisor’s recruiting process.

The program also is an opportunity for those who are new to the financial services sector to learn about the various directions a young advisor can take within the sector.

Scrolling through insurance professionals who have made themselves available for these coffee chats, Geller says, reveals individuals working in areas such as life insurance, group health benefits, small-business insurance and insurance fraud. A student pondering a career in financial services might not know there were so many career options within the insurance industry.

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