Why I Wish I Had a Mentor When I Started My Company

By Ian Bremmer (original source LinkedIn Pulse) 

“I’ve had a number of mentors over my career, all of whom helped me in different ways. The late great James Chace taught me how to properly frame an argument. Bob Conquest taught me how to research and deliver publishable prose. Ray Taras, my college professor, taught me how to do fieldwork under some pretty challenging conditions (in my case, it was Ukraine right after independence). Jim Todd, another beloved professor of mine, taught me how to focus on analysis and recognize bias for what it really was.

But I didn’t have a mentor when I started my company. In retrospect, that probably wasn’t the smartest move — I just didn’t know anyone with business experience back then. So I’m living proof that you don’t always need a mentor to be successful. But they sure do make a difference.”

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