23

Managing Sweet Sorrow

Life after Mentoring

Every path but your own is the path of fate. Keep on your own track, then.

Henry David Thoreau

Effective mentoring relationships are rich, engaging, and intimate. But all such arrangements must come to an end, and no matter how hard we may try to avoid it, every ending has a bittersweet dimension. As Shakespeare so eloquently reminds us, “Parting is such sweet sorrow.” As you and your protégé reach the end of your partnership, how do you manage “farewell” with a focus on “well”?