Thank you kindly for the blogpost! Just to clarify a couple of points: teaching MBA students is not my career it’s just my hobby. I did launch the original mentoring program (in 2005) from Queen’s (a Canadian university) and now teach MBAs from Queen’s as well as many other top b-schools such as Columbia Business School (New York), London School of Economics (England), the Sorbonne (France), Schulich School of Business (Toronto), and Richard Ivey School of Business (London) to name a few. However, my entire career (40 years) has been spent working in and with the Fortune 500 in various operational and executive management roles. It is this real-world experience and having mastered 6 professional management disciplines that makes the SmartStart program valuable to its members because my advice is specific right down to role and industry.

I also do a significant amount of 1:1 private coaching (for CEOs, senior execs, new managers, and anyone with career ambitions who is new to the Fortune 500 or to North America). Many of these private coaching clients are also in the SmartStart program.

I think perhaps the most interesting thing about the mentoring program, at least to me anyway, is that since its inception, not a single person has left! So we have to keep expanding its capacity through the creative use of technology. And with the business world always changing, it looks like there will be plenty to talk about and help program members with for years to come! I swear helping these folks is the best job I’ve ever had!

For those who may want to confirm my career credentials, they are posted at http://www.lindalopeke.com and, as Jason noted, SmartStart program information is available from http://www.smartstartcoach.com

We’re happy to welcome new members anytime! But when the seats are gone, they’re gone… at least until we do another technology expansion.

Cheers!
Linda M. Lopeke
http://www.smartstartcoach.com