Mentorship Across Generations: Lessons from Women in Leadership Panel
At this year’s ICSC Women’s Panel, leaders across retail and commercial real estate gathered to explore how mentorship can create measurable impact. The focus wasn’t just on traditional hierarchies or age groups, but on building a culture of reciprocal learning where experience, creativity, and curiosity meet in the middle.
The retail and real estate industries are evolving at remarkable speed. Technology, consumer behavior, and workplace dynamics continue to shift but one thing remains constant: people learn best from each other.
Ideas that stood out:
Reciprocal learning. Emerging professionals can share insights on technology, AI tools, and cultural trends, while seasoned leaders offer strategy, context, and business perspective. The exchange goes both ways and that’s what makes it powerful.
Sponsorship over mentorship. Leaders don’t just advise, they advocate. They open doors, recommend names, and track real outcomes.
Peer circles and mastermind groups. Small, cross-functional groups that meet monthly to exchange skills, celebrate wins, and solve challenges together.
Building a Culture of Collaboration
Mentorship thrives in environments that value openness, empathy, and shared accountability. While titles and tenure bring value, trust and curiosity are what truly drive collaboration. By recognizing the unique skills each person brings in digital fluency, negotiation experience, market intuition, and creative thinking, teams can balance legacy knowledge with new energy.
At Kayyem Marketing, that balance happens every day within our multi-generational team, where Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X work side by side to learn, innovate, and grow together.
Learning Through Design and Experience
The same philosophy applies to how we design and activate spaces. Inclusive environments create opportunities for people and ideas to connect naturally. Workshops, wellness events, maker markets, and mentorship meetups all serve as touchpoints where people can learn from one another in real time.
At Kayyem, mentorship happens much the same way. Through collaboration, shared projects, and open communication, team members grow together while learning from each other’s strengths. Guided by Najla Kayyem’s long history of leadership and her commitment to developing women leaders, the culture at Kayyem Marketing continues to champion growth, connection, and confidence across every generation.
The Takeaway
When mentorship becomes part of everyday conversation, collaboration becomes instinctive. When leaders listen as much as they teach, the whole industry grows stronger. It’s not about teaching down or learning up. It’s about continuous exchange of knowledge.
“Experience is best when shared.” – Najla Kayyem
