From the perspective of organizational behavior, mentoring received little attention until the mid 1970s. Since that time, the topic has been praised, criticized, analyzed, and in some organizations formally endorsed. A survey of 1,200 leading corporate executives found that two thirds of those surveyed had a mentor, that the number of these relationships is growing, and that those who have had them earn more money at a younger age and are happier with their career progress than those who have not had mentors. (A mentor is someone who takes a protege and teaches him or her the basic job, shows how to cope with an environment and encourages progress through it, and acts as a model for career or adult behavior.) This relationship exists on a one-to-one basis between a more experienced person and an inexperienced person, usually a half generation apart in age. Proteges can often attract a mentor by modeling themselves after the chosen person, talking to that person, and displaying knowledge and initiative. Mentors who wish to attract proteges usually set high examples in terms of productivity, excellence, and concern for people, in addition to having wide knowledge of the organization and industry. Mentors are helpful to women in business because they provide access to information channels that are unavailable except through grapevine-type sources. However, formalized mentor programs do not generate the warmth and spontaneity of informal relationships, and they create discord among other employees because of perceived favoritism. (CRH)