Mark Zides, an experienced career strategist and veteran business leader, has an acute understanding of the challenges and opportunities that young professionals, particularly Gen Z, are currently undergoing. With over three decades of experience under his belt, Zides has witnessed the workplace transform firsthand and the precise needs of the next-gen emerging workforce. He is not an onlooker but a participant himself, guiding businesses to transform the way they lead and learn to build talent, particularly through career initiatives that respond to the Future of Work.
Zides recognizes that Gen Z has a distinct set of values and aspirations that are commonly coupled with the aspiration to be impactful and meaningful, along with the more common aspiration to be career-driven. He has taken it upon himself to close the aspirations gap with the corporate space. As a part of his role, he enables organizations to create a space where Gen Z talent can thrive and be meaningful.
One of the strengths of Zides’ system is his emphasis on mentorship. He is a strong believer that experienced professionals are capable of mentoring and guiding early career professionals. The practical framework that his book, “The #PACE Process for Early Career Success,” provides for establishing and cultivating successful mentoring relationships is an added advantage. The framework of planning, applying, committing, and evaluating provides both mentors and mentees with the tools that are essential to gain the maximum benefit from the mentoring process.
To Zides, mentoring is not merely pairing individuals but establishing strong relationships and an open pipeline for learning from one another. He challenges mentors to be themselves and to give advice based on experience but to be careful about the mentee’s own nature and objectives. He also requires listening intently to mentees’ challenges and objectives.
Zides’ work extends beyond counseling individuals. He collaborates with organizations to design and implement strong mentorship programs that are specifically designed for the organization’s needs and goals. This ranges from selecting the appropriate mentors within the organization to training them to be mentors to empowering them to be mentors to having specific processes to match the mentors to the mentees based upon the mentee’s goals and needs as well as the mentor’s goals.
By integrating the culture with mentorship, Zides helps organizations create a positive culture where Gen Z employees are made to feel valuable, engaged, and empowered to be the best version that they can be. Not only does his process enhance the individuals but the organization as well by building a knowledge-sharing culture based on teamwork and continuous learning.