Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Coaching and mentoringHR practiceLearning & development

My mentor: Larry Hirst

by Personnel Today 6 Feb 2009
by Personnel Today 6 Feb 2009

It’s unusual to have just one mentor.


I have different people to talk to about different things. But the one mentor who stands out is Larry Hirst. He’s now chairman of IBM Europe, Middle East and Africa, but when we met he had just become IBM country manager for the UK.


I had been at IBM for quite a while, and I asked him to mentor me. So in that sense, it was a formal and acknowledged relationship – and it has continued ever since. It was an unusual situation because he was, compared to me, such a senior executive. We discovered that we could instant message each other if I had a very quick question. But usually we would schedule time so that we could sit down and, in a more formal way, go through topics we had earmarked in advance. Over time, he discovered that there were subjects that I was expert in. While I wouldn’t call it reverse mentoring, I could offer him guidance, too.


In 2005, Lenovo bought IBM’s PC business, so having worked for IBM for some time, I found that I now worked for Lenovo. That was a very difficult time for me, and Larry was a great source of help and encouragement then. He helped me learn how to work in a new company in a smaller environment.


Over time, the nature of what you want from a mentor changes, and at this stage, I’ve gone from needing advice on how to be successful within the company to needing advice on how to be successful and behave like a more senior manager. I wouldn’t go to Larry with a day-to-day problem, but if I was thinking of changing career or taking a new role, I would immediately get back in touch with him.


Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

This mentoring has gone right through a life cycle. It started off as a very formal relationship that kept to set times and one-to-one meetings, then developed into regular chats by phone, then irregular chats by phone. But I still feel able to speak to him – I know he’d take a call from me any time. I would feel very comfortable going straight back into detailed discussions about myself, what I can do well or what I can do better. I was delighted when he agreed to mentor me. As a junior manager, I wanted someone who would pick me up and take me with him. And Larry undoubtedly did that.


By Ken Batty, executive director of HR, EMEA, Lenovo

Personnel Today

previous post
Service is Paramount for restaurant chain HR chief
next post
Panasonic to make 15,000 job cuts

You may also like

Investing in skills when budgets are tight

12 May 2025

Leading with honest feedback: A responsibility in recruitment

24 Apr 2025

High-level apprenticeship spend doubles in five years

16 Apr 2025

Number of SMEs hiring staff in decline

10 Apr 2025

Gen Z and ‘conscious unbossing’: how can HR...

7 Apr 2025

How to build a commercially-minded workforce

3 Apr 2025

What do HR specialists enjoy most about their...

21 Mar 2025

Why the apprenticeship shakeup is good news for...

20 Mar 2025

Scrapping NHS England could affect critical training, warn...

14 Mar 2025

Employee engagement: Growing disconnect between effort and recognition,...

13 Mar 2025

  • 2025 Employee Communications Report PROMOTED | HR and leadership...Read more
  • The Majority of Employees Have Their Eyes on Their Next Move PROMOTED | A staggering 65%...Read more
  • Prioritising performance management: Strategies for success (webinar) WEBINAR | In today’s fast-paced...Read more
  • Self-Leadership: The Key to Successful Organisations PROMOTED | Eletive is helping businesses...Read more
  • Retaining Female Talent: Four Ways to Reduce Workplace Drop Out PROMOTED | International Women’s Day...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+