Being a mentor to young professionals embodies the pay-it-forward concept. Think of the potential impact if one chose to mentor three people, and they then chose to mentor nine more people, and those went on to mentor 27 more people. The results could be prodigious. Successful mentoring programs have become valuable, organizational assets. In a May 2012 press release, Management Training Systems stated that "Formal mentoring programs offer employers an opportunity to strategically customize employee careers within the organization in ways that are mutually beneficial to the organization and employees." Nonetheless, successful mentoring programs require a great deal of strategizing and preparation before implementation. In order to embrace the concept of pay-it-forward with mentoring, organizations must establish validation for the program, delineate development and implementation, and define beneficial outcomes for all key players. (Contains 4 notes.)