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Putting Your Worst Foot Forward
Why honesty is the bedrock of great mentoring
The relationship between the mentee and the mentor is a peculiar one.
On the one hand, you have someone who has little to no clue what he wants to do with his life or has an idea but is lacking in execution. On the other hand, you have someone who is relatively experienced but tries to look his best.
What’s the problem here? How do we give the knowledge seeker what he needs?
Be vulnerable.
Young people don’t want to know how good you are. At least that’s not all they want to know. They want to see how you survived the things that should have kept you from becoming how good you are.
If you can’t give them that, then with all your experience, you’re useless as a mentor. What’s your purpose as a guide if you can’t tell your followers the truth?
The mentee doesn’t need to know the potholes you read about in a book. If they wanted to see what you read, they’d be asking for a book recommendation. No, that’s not what they want from you. You could give them that, and they’ll appreciate it. But that’s not why your voice matters to them.
Your voice matters to them because they want to know the potholes you fell into, the ones you didn’t see…
