Mentoring: The Longest Investment with the Highest Returns
– By Sudipto Roy
A personal story about connection, growth, and the power of long-term mentorship.
A Call That Took Me Back
A few weeks back, I got a phone call from someone I’ve known for over four decades in fact, more than I’ve known my wife (a statement I plan to quietly gloss over at home for my own safety).
Without a second thought, I rushed to Kolkata. The purpose? Not a board meeting, not a client pitch, but to meet someone who was once my student now a globe-trotting corporate honcho, wearing multiple hats: successful professional, doting husband, compassionate son.
When the Journey Began
I first met him when he landed in Kolkata all those years ago face radiating innocence, eyes brimming with curiosity. I was appointed as his teacher (today we’d call it a “mentor”).
For the next 7 years, we journeyed together from building a reading habit to introducing him to new rock bands, from life lessons to harmless mischief.
Then, as life does, it sent me chasing greener pastures, and him on his own path. Our contact over the years was the occasional email or a long-distance phone call. And yet, when I saw him again recently, I realised that the essence of mentoring isn’t in constant contact it’s in the quality of the connection.
Over two days, we talked, laughed, reminisced. I could see in his eyes that he still sought a subtle “validation check” from me on his life goals. And that respect, that trust, made me prouder than any professional award ever could.
In him, I see a mirror image of myself only in a much larger proportion (and with a far better wardrobe).
“A mentor is someone who allows you to see the hope inside yourself.” Oprah Winfrey
“The delicate balance of mentoring someone is not creating them in your own image, but giving them the opportunity to create themselves.” Steven Spielberg
Mentoring isn’t about creating clones. It’s about lighting a fire that keeps burning, no matter the distance, the years, or the changes in life’s scenery. And when you see that fire in someone you once guided it’s the most fulfilling ROI you’ll ever get.
After all, you don’t measure a mentor’s success by how many times your mentee thanks you but by how many times you see them thrive without even needing to.
Final Thought
Think of someone who mentored you—or someone you once mentored. Maybe it’s time to reconnect. Because sometimes, the best investments are the ones you don’t track… until one day, they quietly show up in ways that move your soul.