As a mentor, I always leave the vision of the participating team intact. The vision is their dream, their baby. I could add value by leveraging on my practical experience to challenge the commercial viability of their business plan.

Mentors could offer students a wealth of information and experience to fine-tune their business plan and financial model.

I see my role as mentor to be a purely advisory one. Not so much as teaching or information giving but rather providing a sounding board for students to bounce ideas off of.

I would like to see ideas that have been thought through instead of fleeting streams of consciousness with no chance of becoming a workable reality. Having said that, I do not mind contributing with the practicalities of real life business to an otherwise fundamentally sound proposal. It is important to distinguish between a pipe dream and a nascent, unproven concept that is worthy of pursuing.

Youthful vigor and enthusiasm backed by solid research and defensible positions are the types of winning combinations that I seek from the students in their search for the holy grail of the writing of business plans.

I believe in business or even our society have a real need to express the full spectrum of our feelings about how we see others, but need to do it in a way that doesn't threaten our comfort, or risk conflict. It can even be embarrassing to give positive feedback to someone, especially if they are embarrassed receiving it. Our communication with each other usually falls in the middle. Negative feelings are tempered, vented to a "safe" third party, or veiled in partial truths. At the opposite end of the spectrum I see enthusiasm curtailed because we're afraid someone will come along and burst our bubble. Unfortunately, this is often grounded in solid experience.

Someone has said that playing small doesn't serve anyone. Have you ever experienced being in a safe, supportive group with others who let you grows and be your true self? If you have, you know that many others share these issues of not feeling "good enough" or feeling "less than". In an environment of acceptance and nurturance, when you allow yourself to be "big" and brilliant, you give others permission to do the same.

In Business, if someone tells you you're "full of yourself", think about what that could really mean. When you're so full of the best you can be -- your most brilliant and compassionate, you don't have room to be petty, competitive or small. So don't hold back. Notice what's fascinating about you....praise yourself.