Celebrating a decade of giving back

Executive Connections mentor Matthew Benjamin reflects on 10 years of guiding W. P. Carey MBA students toward career clarity and lasting growth.

When Matthew Benjamin moved to Arizona after retiring from Deloitte as a partner in 2015, he knew he wanted to continue mentoring the next generation of professionals.

"Being a partner at Deloitte is — in addition to serving clients — all about mentoring young professionals to help them advance in their careers," says Benjamin, who worked for the organization for more than 40 years advising CEOs, CFOs, and boards on strategy, risk management, acquisitions, governance, compensation, accounting, and internal control matters.

Benjamin serves on the boards of UMOM New Day Centers, Child Crisis Arizona, and the Jewish National Fund, and works with the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale, and recently completed a 3-year term as board chair for Childsplay, which produces live theatre and learning opportunities for youth. He was a pioneering mentor in W. P. Carey's Full-Time MBA Executive Connections program, which connects students with experienced leaders across supply chain management, finance, business transformation, and executive leadership. Now, after 10 years of mentoring business students, Benjamin is retiring from Executive Connections to prepare for the next cohort of mentors. He continues his association with ASU as an advisor to the W. P. Carey MBA Consulting Club, which performs pro bono consulting projects for local mission-based organizations.

In celebration of his dedication to W. P. Carey students, Benjamin sat down with W. P. Carey News to reflect on what mentorship means to him.

Question: How did you get involved with Executive Connections?

Answer: In the early '90s, my alma mater, Baruch College, started a program called Executives on Campus, which is similar to Executive Connections. I mentored students through that program for 20 years before moving to Arizona. When I initially stepped away from mentoring in New York City, I called my office in Phoenix to ask who I could meet with to discuss the possibility of mentoring ASU students, and a partner introduced me to Amy Hillman, who was the dean of W. P. Carey at the time. After meeting and chatting, she invited me to be a mentor.

At that time, the program was in its infancy, and I joined as a mentor for the second class of mentees. Early on, there were fewer mentors — and probably even more mentees — so the ratio was quite different from what it is today. There were also a lot more challenges for early mentors, as we were juggling five or six mentees instead of two or three. The good news is that the program really caught on, and now there's actually a waiting list for mentors.

Q: Why do you mentor young professionals?

A: For me, coming from the accounting profession and the world of accounting firms, mentorship is part of the culture. My job as a partner was to mentor young professionals, as I had people mentoring me throughout my career. The notion of creating opportunities for others, or paying it forward, not only serves the mentee, but also me as the mentor: it's for my own good. If I mentor someone and they turn out to be great, they're making my job easier.

Q: What are some examples of how Executive Connections mentors coach mentees?

A: Something we talk about in this program with the mentees is internships. Students have internships in the summer between their first and second years in the program, and the first question they ask is, "What should I do? What should I look for?" So often, we talk about how they will present themselves and what their first two weeks of the job will look like.

Another benefit that provides value to the mentees is that, since they're pivoting to a new career and haven't been in an academic setting for several years, they often lack experience in properly managing their time. They haven't cracked the books while juggling meetings, life — some are married, some have children. Oddly enough, although you might think that mentorship is all about professional guidance, some of it becomes personal guidance in terms of time management and how to keep things in perspective.

Q: What was your approach to mentoring students?

A: I'm very Socratic in my approach: when they ask me a question, I ask them another question, and so on. My only job is to ensure that they rationally consider all of the options in front of them. I'll ask, "What would happen if… Have you considered this? What would this option look like?" Then, all of a sudden, a lightbulb goes off in their head, and their thoughts start to crystallize.

I don't tell them to do anything specific because I don't always know them well enough to tell them how to make a life decision. I only help them with the process by which they make the decision, and part of the point of being a mentor is to understand the person as best you can in the limited amount of time we have, and help them make good decisions.

Q: Are there any mentorship experiences from Executive Connections that stand out to you?

A: I had two students — one was active military, and one was retired — who wanted to know how to influence people without using their status. How do you influence people without introducing the concept of hierarchy? The conversation I had with this young man was an interesting one, because he already had a job — he wasn't seeking out mentorship to get a job. We discussed how he plans to return to the armed forces with an MBA and all these new ideas, but he will be working with colonels who won't want to listen to some kid who has just received his MBA when they have 30 years of military experience. So, our conversation focused mainly on how to get others to think that your idea — which has the potential to improve operations — is actually their idea.

The other experience actually happened after the mentorship had ended. A former mentee of mine was being promoted and was navigating the concept of negotiating his job salary in a way that felt fair to everyone involved. That was really interesting, too.

Q: Is there a common piece of career advice that you passed on to your mentees?

A: Perform at the level of the job you aspire to, not the one you currently have.

Q: Why do you think it's important for people to give back to the next generation through mentorship?

A: It is our hindsight that provides our mentee's foresight. Mentorship is about wanting the next generation to be as good as, or better than, the current one, and we can achieve this by passing on our knowledge and experience. In addition, it only seems fair that I attempt to help others as others helped me.

I chaired UMOM’s board, which serves unhoused individuals and families. Their approach with clients is to provide a hand up and not a hand out. Their mission spoke to me because I grew up in subsidized public housing in New York City, which is the most affordable way to live. The rent was based on family income, and ours was quite modest. When I was younger, there were several instances where others invested in me; I was able to attend a heavily subsidized sleep-away camp, and my college was tuition-free. Some government entities subsidized the rent and tuition.