A best practice regarding annual employee performance evaluations is that there should be no surprises. Issues regarding a person's performance should be addressed as they occur throughout the year. This has been the approach of the author when evaluating staff performance. However, this practice did not prepare the author to manage his surprise when a staff member shared something very unexpectedly at the end of her evaluation: She considers the author her mentor. In this article, the author shares his story of how he went from leader to mentor.