This episode is about mentorship. Mentorship is a powerful personal development tool that naturally attracts ambitious people. However, it can be a complicated tool to maximize. Mentorship comes in many forms, with varying degrees of accessibility, quality, and suitability for a given individual. In this episode, I answer questions on 3 topics surrounding the complications of mentorship: how to navigate the resources available, how to be coachable, and tips and tricks I’ve learned as a mentor and mentee.

In today’s episode, we discuss:

Why you shouldn’t conflate success at your company with success in your career
How and why you should form a “Personal Board of Directors”
Resources for people who can’t access certain types of mentorship
How to identify and avoid bad advice
Actionable tips for becoming more coachable
Why coaching others improves your ability to be coached

Referenced in this episode:

Meander: Match your career ambitions with the perfect mentor (Nikhyl is an advisor)
Shreyas Doshi: links to his content and his courses
Lenny’s Podcast
Reforge

Timestamps:
[00:00:00] Intro
[00:01:54] I feel like I’m not doing enough to advance my career, what should I do?
[00:04:34] What if I can’t access mentorship?
[00:06:11] The 4 buckets of people in your network
[00:09:55] The “Personal Board of Directors” framework
[00:12:02] How to connect - not “network” - in 30 mins per week
[00:13:31] How to find people to connect with
[00:15:16] The value of free online content
[00:16:31] The value of communities
[00:18:41] Paid resources
[00:21:24] 2 things to consider when it comes to executive coaches and therapists
[00:24:48] 3 unique strengths of therapy
[00:25:51] The skill of being coachable
[00:26:43] Use specific requests when engaging with potential mentors or coaches
[00:30:33] The courage required to listen to feedback
[00:31:38] How to run an efficient process when being coached
[00:34:55] Why coaching others helps you to be coached
[00:36:42] How do you know if you’re getting good advice?
[00:38:45] Beware of extremists and contrarians
[00:40:04] Beware of copycat coaches
[00:41:12] Coaches must know you and your situation
[00:42:19] My own personal board of directors
[00:46:03] How I think about new requests to be coached by me
[00:47:07] My new idea for a live coaching format
[00:48:21] Conclusion

Where to find Nikhyl:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/nikhyl
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikhyl/

Where to find The Skip Podcast:

Website: https://www.skip.show/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@theskippodcast
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theskippod
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4oT2rxMsRP64h9NXuA11DJ
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-skip-podcast/id1663529202

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit theskip.substack.com

How to find a great Mentor

The Skip Podcast