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BLUF:

What is an appropriate gift for a manager (soon to be mentor) that has been instrumental towards several incredible / unexpected opportunities for me?

 

BACKGROUND:

Recently my manager has "gone to bat" for me on several occasions and provided me with some great exposure to the senior leadership team to help showcase my abilities.  The output of these situations, and my performance, has led to several incredible opportunities for me.  The most significant of these opportunities are:

·          A new role / promotion within the larger team

·         The company providing significantly more financial support towards my MBA on top of the "normal" company support

He does not expect this gift but I really want to let him know how much I appreciate what he has done for me.  Whatever the gift is, it will be supplemental to a hand-written thank you note (the “manager-tools” way of course). 

 

Thank you all for your support and recommendations.  

 

430jan's picture

Congratulations on your accomplishment!

I think that an actual gift might not be as important as taking this person out to lunch or dinner. You can show your appreciation for the relationship by actually developing it further. If you're really looking for something more tangible maybe a very nice pen? 

If your mentor is like me, their greatest joy will be to see you achieve your goals.

I'll take lunch :)

afmoffa's picture

It's not about getting a "nice" or expensive gift. It's about demonstrating you know the person and appreciate him or her. 

A nice pen would be a perfect thank-you gift for me; I am a bit of a dandy about pens (I have eight different Cross pens, and I color-coordinate with my clothes). A nice pen would be a poor thank-you gift for my father, who has terrible handwriting and types everything. If your mentor likes baseball, give her two tickets to a home game. If he likes music, get her an iTunes gift card. If he is constantly quoting Patton/ Churchill/ Yogi Berra at you, get him a new biography on Patton/ Churchill/ Yogi Berra.

By the way, be very careful about giving a coworker any sort of gift for his or her office. I'm not saying don't do it, but be careful. The last thing you want is for your mentor to spend all year begrudgingly using the Word-A-Day calendar you gave him, because you're in his office all the time and he's too polite to throw it away.