Mastering your Career Path Through Mentorship

Picture this.

You're running late to the office. You hussle on the elevator, and just as the doors are starting to close, your CEO stops them and enters. You have 30 seconds — it's an incredible opportunity to make a positive impression. 

The literal elevator pitch. 

You introduce yourself and maybe they say "Kate! I've heard your name! You're doing some great work on [insert name of gigantic project here]. What are your long-term goals here?"

Do you have an answer? Is your response, "I'm not sure"?

Or do you have the elevator pitch ready with something like: "I have aspirations to grow and learn about eventual leadership opportunities. Would you be open to a brief conversation about my potential sometime or would you recommend a mentor you trust internally that I could learn more from?" 

Bingo bango.

Now, obviously, finding mentors is rarely this easy. But making connections with purpose is what will get you where you want to go.

Here’s what I’ve learned about the power of mentorship throughout my 17+ year journey in sales that led me to VP and beyond.

Whatever’s Next for You Is Up To YOU 

Often in my professional career, especially in my time as a VP, I had employees asking me what was next for them. They were "bored" with their current role and they wanted me to pave them a career path, to tell them what was next. 

This has always seemed a bit backwards to me.

Your manager can’t tell you what only you know — your passions, your interests, your own vision for your life. 

Could it be you're prioritizing seeking affirmation or social acceptance instead of listening to your own long-term goals and what motivates you? 

By seeking mentorship, learning from those who have forged a path ahead of you and seeking to understand what you enjoy, you'll find that answer on your own.

How to Find the Perfect Mentor

First, you need to spend time mapping out your end goal. 

Identify the experience you need to gain to be the best darn *end-goal role* you can be.

Do you need to learn how to upsell? Provide technical support? Analyze financial trends? Manage your time more efficiently? 

Now, keep your eyes out. Who in your organization excels in this area?

Seek out people IN those roles that use that skill to listen and learn from. Don't be afraid to *briefly* engage a leader of a certain part of the organization that interests you and ask them to share their story with you. Then ask another.

If you’re kind and humble in your ask, you can understand the role and point out your own knowledge gaps to focus on in future roles. 

People like to talk about themselves, and generally I find people WANT to be helpful. Organically, you'll find alignment and people you want to learn from and schedule follow-up discussions from there — a mentorship is born.

Example: I wanted to be an SVP of a Fortune 500 business. 

Goals can change over time, but I knew I would need significant financial acumen to be effective in that goal role. Since no one would hire me to be in a finance department based on my background, I sought out CFO mentors to teach me enough financial acumen for me to be proficient and fill that knowledge gap. 

As I grew, I wanted to learn the operations I was selling for and eventually got the opportunity to interview for a cross-functional role.

Without my experiences as a mentee, and being bold enough to stay curious and learn from the success of others, my opportunities to grow would have been solely based on merit (and there are a lot of talented people out there in the sales world). 

Forming meaningful and mutually beneficial relationships is a way to stand out and my mentors gave me that chance to showcase my abilities. 

3 Techniques for Becoming an A-Plus Mentee 

What is the appropriate cadence and content to share as a best practice when you're the mentee? The best practices of being a mentee are three-pronged: 

1. Be respectful of time. 1 hr./month is plenty if you use that time efficiently. Be curious. Come up with an agenda of what you want to learn, and send the agenda or list of questions to the potential mentor at least 48 hours in advance so they have the chance to understand, prepare and add to it. 

2. Take the reins. You are leading this, so don't assume they're going to schedule this cadence for you. Try one meeting, and if you like them and they're willing, ask them if they'd continue the conversation next month and send the updated calendar request soon after your initial discussion. 

3. Give as much as you take. Understand that the best mentorships are mutually beneficial. What could you give back to them? How could your experience help them in some way? Offer that up if it's a relationship you want to cultivate so they understand you're not just looking to take - you're invested in a mutually beneficial relationship. And hey, that takes time to build.

As you put yourself out there and look for your own "board of directors", consider that it isn't about your immediate next step. It's about how that next step impacts your future possibilities.