Dear Cubicle Coach: I've had a wonderful mentor for the past seven years. She hired me, promoted me-and when I took a new job, promptly abandoned me. It hurts. What happened?
Maybe you'll be so lucky in life to find a mentor who is completely selfless. Then maybe you'll find a lover/parent/child/friend who's the same. Not! The mentor/protégé relationship is fraught. Often the mentee outgrows the mentor, and the mentor knows and resents it. Face it, your leaving brings on feelings of aging and mortality in the old bird. Conversely, you owe her, and one always resents the person she owes. See, aren't you glad you found a mentor?
