The Impact of Mentoring Relationships on Leadership Development

A detailed understanding of the various impacts on students’ leadership development is needed to best inform how to create environments conducive to growth in this area. This research examines the impact of mentoring-oriented relationships on the formation of student leaders. The qualitative research gathers responses of nine student leaders who have exhibited excellent work in their roles and teases out the ways in which mentoring relationships impacted their growth as leaders and, in turn, their approach to leadership. A detailed description of these relationships is presented alongside characteristics of the mentors themselves