Mentoring done right is an enriching part of your career. As a two-sided relationship, you have both an opportunity to seek out mentors who provide knowledge and counsel and to be one yourself, and each of these exchanges has its benefits. Neither, however, should be forced to fit within the classic construct of mentorship, that of a seasoned veteran taking a green employee under her wings. In fact, sometimes mentorship is the opposite.

I owe much of my early career success to what I learned from mentors, but I also owe some of my more recent strengths and knowledge to my mentees. Our evolving workplace and technological norms means mentoring can happen in all sorts of ways, and if you're intentional about mentorship you can be both a mentor and a mentee throughout your career — and, importantly, learn from both roles. Here are four principles that guide my approach to intentional mentorship: