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The word "mentor" comes from The Odyssey, by Homer. In this classic Greek epic, Telemachus, the son of Odysseus, receives teaching, coaching, and counseling from an older, more experienced person named Mentor. This defines the traditional view of mentoring as we think of it today: that is, an older person providing knowledge and advice on a one-to-one basis to a younger, less experienced person, the mentee. The traditional "closed model"
of mentoring, described above, has been proved to b This new model of mentoring encourages mentees to pursue answers to their own questions. Frequently mentors are limited by their own experiences which usually determine how much they can share with their mentees. The open system allows mentees to seek help from a variety of sources so that one mentor is not called upon to provide all of the necessary assistance. Mentees are the focal point of the partnership who structure and manage the mentoring relationship. In order for the open-system of mentoring to work, an organization's goal is to create a "mentor-rich environment." The Uncommon
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e too limiting. TUIF's founder, Dr. Richard E. Caruso, in his
ground-breaking research in the field of mentoring, discovered that alternative mentoring
models exist in the real world. In his doctoral work, Dr. Caruso describes an "open
model" of mentoring in which the mentee becomes the focal point of the
mentoring partnership. Rather than the traditional two-person, one-to-one model, the open
system suggests that mentoring is triggered by career- aspiring mentees who seek out
needed mentoring help from a variety of sources.