December 26, 2025 • 15 mins
This summer we're curating your playlist with some of our favourite episodes of BIZ - our podcast that gets your work life sorted!
This episode will demolish everything you thought you knew about mentorship. Our career coaches Michelle Battersby and Soph Hirst will let you in on a fresh approach to professional development, moving away from the traditional "one perfect mentor" model to a more flexible, inclusive strategy - think less marriage proposal, more dating.
Plus you’ll hear the five-sentence email template that's going to help you land that dream mentor conversation.
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HOSTS: Michelle Battersby, Soph Hirst and Em Vernem
EXEC PRODUCER: Kimberly Braddish
AUDIO PRODUCER: Leah Porges
Mamamia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the Land we have recorded this podcast on, the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.
https://www.mamamia.com.au/mplus/: https://www.mamamia.com.au/
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
You're listening to another MIA podcast. Mamma Mia acknowledges the
traditional owners of the land. We have recorded this podcast
on the Gatagoul people of the Eur Nation. We pay
our respects to their elders past and present, and extend
that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Hello, m Vernoon here and I am the host of BIZ,
a podcast that gets your work live Sorted. And this
summer we are curating your playlist with unmissable episodes full
of hacks, tips and tricks from our top expert guests
and hosts. And if you're looking for more to listen to,
every Mama Mia podcast is curating your summer listening right
across our network. From pop culture to beauty to powerful interviews,
(01:04):
there is something for everyone. There is a link in
our show notes. Hello and welcome to BIZ Your work
life Sorted. I'm m Vernon and today we're demolishing everything
you thought you knew about mentorship. Get it out of
your mind. If you're jealous of those people who have
that one perfect mentor that guided their entire career, guess what,
(01:29):
Lucky for you, you shouldn't be. We are throwing that
out of the window. It's twenty twenty five and we're
doing mentorship differently now think less marriage proposal and more
dating professional dating that is, unless no professional dating. Like always,
I'm joined by our wonderful career coaches Michelle Battisbee, who
is an entrepreneur and launched Bumble in Australia. She now
(01:51):
runs her own startup and Sofas. She's the one who
took a leap from Google to launch her own coaching
program for people in their early career era, just like myself.
They will be talking about the new era of mentorship
and we think you're going to love this one. Plus
SOFI is going to tell you exactly how to secure
that dream mentor.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Michelle, do you have a mentor yourself? My ay, sure,
response to that question is no.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
But it's because I haven't put a formal label on
the relationship I have with people I get advice from.
I think having a mentor is really just having someone
that you trust and respect and you can learn from
their experiences. So with that in mind, yes, I do
have mentors, and I do like thinking about mentoring in
(02:38):
a more disarming way where it's not this scary, rigid
formal thing.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Yeah, that's why I'm so excited to get into this episode.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
So this idea of a single mentor or a series
of mentors is really just like being in an open relationship.
You can collect an army of brilliant brains with different
experiences that you can learn from to expand your own career.
I kind of love the open relationship analogy.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And just to continue that further, so
if you look at the traditional model for mentorship, you'd
have this one person and you'd have this long term
relationship with them. The problem with it is that often
it would just get a bit weird, the vibes would
sort of die. It would often start strong and then
end really awkwardly. And also, like a relationship, you sort
(03:38):
of had all this pressure to find this one perfect person.
And I felt this so much. You know, I grew
up in regional in New South Wales. I went to UNI,
and it felt like after UNI, everyone got into the
workforce and everyone kind of had a mentor. You know,
I didn't have a business network around it, had no
clue how to find a mentor myself, and I just
felt really intimidated by the whole thing, and like I'd
already failed because I didn't have a mentor in my career.
(04:01):
So what we want to help you guys do is
to actually reframe what mentorship is, and we want to
explain the new way to do it. Hit us with it.
So for what is the new way to do a mentorship?
So instead of having this one single mentor that you
might have ten chats with in the year, we want
you to think about ten diff diferent people that you
(04:21):
have one conversation with. So this is a series of
mental chats where you have intentional conversations with specific people
to actually learn something and to figure something out. So
it's much more specific. Michelle. The reason that I actually
think this is a way better approach one, you would
be so surprised by who is actually willing to say
yes when it's a once off conversation versus an ongoing commitment. Two,
(04:45):
these conversations are more specific, so you're going to prep
for them. They're more specific and targeted versus a traditional
mentorship relationship, which can often be quite general and sometimes
you just sort of feel like you're filling the space
with questions. So it's more specific and therefore much more
practical and then three, I actually think this approach is
way more inclusive, so anyone can make this work for them,
(05:08):
and you don't have to have sort of a big
existing network of people that you know or work for
a really big company. Anyone can make this approach work.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
I love this so much because it also sounds like
there won't be any awkward breakups with this sort of process.
I became fascinated by this and went out on my
Instagram stories and I run a pole and eighty three
percent of people came back to me saying that they
did not have a mentor, which blew my mind. And
(05:37):
I then asked a follow up question, which was, if
you don't have a mentor but you want one, what
are the blockers? And my question box responses have never
been more packed, and the replies were pretty consistent. So
lots of people want a mentor, but they've got these blockers.
And a big one is cost. People are wondering how
(05:59):
much does it cost? How do you determine that with
a mentor, which we'll get into. They don't know who
to ask and they don't know how to ask. So
this is your bread and butter. This is what you
do at work, baby, let's start with what actually is
a mentor.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Yeah, let's bust some myths. So a mentor is anyone
where you learn from their experiences and then you apply
that knowledge to your own situation. So by asking them questions,
am I listening? I think it's helpful to know the
difference between a mentor and a coach. So a mentor
is someone where the conversation is mostly about that other person,
so you're listening to them and you're applying that to
(06:39):
your own situation. And a mentor conversation is unpaid, they
should really be unpaid, versus a coach, where in a
coaching conversation, the focus of that conversation is typically on you,
so they're going to ask you questions and guide you
and give you frameworks, but it's really fully customized to
you and your situation. Because of that, these conversations are
(07:01):
typically paid. You know, I was pretty shocked actually to
see in some of those dms, Michelle, that people were saying,
you know, how much should I actually pay a mentor?
Or I can't afford to pay a mentor? Well, the
answer to how much should I pay a mentor is
actually zero, because a true mental relationship should be unpaid
because there is this mutual value you exchange, so the
(07:22):
mentor gets something out of it too. So I actually
do both free mentorship and also paid coaching. You know,
I've got five different people that I mentor right now,
and I get so much out of these conversations with them.
I think, you know, the way that they emailed me,
the vibe that we had in that first chat meant that, hey,
I actually do want to stay in touch with these people,
(07:42):
these young, smart, ambitious people. I get so much out
of it. So yeah, it's a mutual value exchange, but
typically a mentorship should be unpaid.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
Honestly, I think that will surprise so many people that definition,
and as you're walking through it, it also, on the
flip side, expands the kinds of people that you could
work with. Like, for example, I do mentoring as well.
I don't do coaching. I don't believe I could do coaching.
So I think there are a lot of people out
there that are willing to share their experiences in more
of a mentoring capacity.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
So I honestly feel.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
Like most people would be down to accept, you know,
mentoring someone who is looking to propel themselves forward and
on your point as well, like from the mentor you're
sitting there thinking, just take from me, extract from me,
like you want them to ask the kinds of questions
that are going to benefit them and unlock nuggets of
your gold free of charge, and it feels really.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Good to do. I think it's about asking it the
right way.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
So after the break the five sentences to land you
a mentorship, so we love to give you practical steps
and advice here. So soph is about to give us
the three steps to develop your mentorship series. And then
(09:04):
so if I want to ask you what we all
should not be doing, so how do we start?
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Okay? Step one is to really ask yourself why am
I doing this? So what am I trying to get
out of it? And I thought it might be helpful
to give you a live example. So let's use the
example of some one who they currently work in sales
and maybe they want to go and work in marketing
and they're kind of thinking like do I do that now?
Or should I just say in sales a bit longer
and work my way out? So Step maumble one is
(09:30):
asking yourself, what am I trying to get out of it?
And why do I want to have these chats. Step
number two is to actually build yourself a short list
of people. So to do that, you're going to be
looking at, Okay, I'm trying to pivot my career from
sales to marketing. Let me maybe try and find some
people that have done that. So you can first look
at your internal network. There might be people within your
(09:50):
company that have done it. You can then go and
do a bunch of LinkedIn stalking so people have so
much information about their careers. It's actually so easy to
find people who have done something similar to what you're
trying to do, and then also just ask you around.
You want to try and land on three to five
people who have done something similar to what you're trying
to do. Now onto step three, which is the very
(10:12):
simple five line email that you were going to send them.
So I wouldn't normally read out an email live, but
because it's so simple, actually just wanted to share that
with you. Now, if you're up for it, love it.
Let's go. The five lines. Line one is high person's name.
I know you're busy and you get a lot of emails.
Part two you're going to start with them. This is
(10:34):
very important, so you want to show I have spent
time researching you, I know something about you, and you're
going to start with them. So an example of that
might be I admired the way you pivoted your career
from X to Y. Or it might be I've been
following your career for a while now and I love
the way you talk about topic X. Part three You're
going to link to you and why you actually want
(10:56):
to have that conversation. So an example might be the
reason I'm interested in this is because I'm also trying
to pivot my career from sales to marketing. And you
know I'm currently working in this role at this company
and it would really help me to understand your process.
Line four. It would have a huge impact on my
career if you're able to give me twenty minutes on
(11:17):
the phone or zoom for a career chat so I
can learn from your experiences and five give them an
out so you say, I know this is a long shot,
and I understand you might need to say no due
to bandwidth. Even getting a reply from you would make
my day.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
I love this so like it's making me feel warm
and fuzzy inside. It's making me feel warm and fuzzy
if I were to receive something like that. But it's
also making me feel like I want to challenge myself.
Now take your template, and I want to report back
by our next episode with like an iconic founder that
I have used this template for to get to mentor me,
(11:56):
because I also think an important point is don't.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Cut yourself short with who you reach out to.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
Dream big when you write that shortlist of people that
you want to.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
Hit up, even just a story from my own career.
So actually, one of the best mentor chats I've ever
had is with the CMO of Telstra, Brent Smart, and
I was having this amazing chat with him. I think
it was supposed to be an hour and I got
an hour and a half. And I mentioned and in
the chat that one of my very junior reports at
Google actually is a big fan of his and had
sent me his podcast, and Brent said, well, I'll have
(12:28):
a mentorship chat with him. I was thinking, like, there's
no way even do that. Anyway, my report emails brand
and you know, the next week he's having a full
hour with this very senior marketing leader. And he was
very junior at the time, so I think, yeah, exactly
what you said, Michelle, don't hold back, go for your
dream list, and the trick is just really keeping it
(12:49):
very short, making it about them, and explaining why you
want to have this conversation and make it specific, and
you will be so amazed at who is actually going
to say yes.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
Last thing for me on this I also love that
it wasn't can I take you out for a coffee?
Because I do feel like the effort to go out
and meet someone can sometimes just be a hurdle that
you might not have capacity for. But to just jump
on a phone call or zoom is just making someone
else's life easier. So I love that guidance on that
(13:17):
what are the doos and don'ts water the red floh,
what is not going to land you a date?
Speaker 3 (13:22):
So I actually have a lot of people emailing me
to ask for mentorship, and so I just want to
share with you some of the things not to do.
So the first red flag for me is don't just
ask someone can I pick a brain? Don't say that
to them. You really need to show that you've invested
time in understanding who they are and why you're actually
having that conversation. So you want to make it specific.
That's where asking for twenty twenty five minutes on the
(13:44):
phone call or zoom is great. Don't just say can
I pick a brain? The other red flag is never
ask someone to be your mentor. The reason for that is,
I just think like a good mentorship chat, it's quite balanced, right, So,
like mentors love talking about their experience and how they
can actually help young up and comers, you know, So
asking someone to be your mentor, it just starts the
(14:05):
vibe off as being really weird, and it also makes
them feel like they're getting into this long term relationship
but maybe they don't want to be in.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
Yes, it's almost like asking someone to become your committed
like boyfriend or girlfriend before you've ever been on a
first date. You might not need the lane. Maybe that's
one of the takeaways from this episode. You might not
even need that label on the relationship to have a mentor,
and I think that makes it less scary as well.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
That is exactly it. You're just asking for a career chat,
you are not asking for them to be a mentor.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
Yeah, love it. Okay, So what are the action points?
What do I need to do right now to get
a mentor?
Speaker 3 (14:41):
So Step one is to really ask yourself, why am
I actually doing this? What is the decision I'm trying
to make, or what am I trying to get better at?
What am I trying to figure out? Step two is
you want to get your short list of people, so
I think you can even set yourself a goal of, like,
I want to do ten of these mentor chats in
the year, whatever it is for you. And then step
three is you want to have this email template, this
(15:02):
very short email template, and we have made it super
easy for you, so we've got it in the Beer's newsletter.
All you have to do is jump into the show
notes and you can get the subscription link. Subscribe and
we'll send up that email template to you.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Out that eighty three percent of people don't have a
mentor has made me feel so much better about not
having one, and I actually don't even need to feel
bad about it. If you want that five sentence email
template that's going to help you land those dream mental conversations,
it's in our newsletter this week and it's absolutely free
to sign up. There's a link in our show notes
for you to do so. Also, if you do end
(15:43):
up getting a yes from your mentor, which I mean,
of course you will because this template is working for everyone.
Do not stress about what to do next. We are
going to cover exactly how to nail those conversations in
a future episode. And don't forget our biz Inbox episode
drops Sistersday, where we answer all of your career dilemmas.
Check the show notes to find out how to submit
your work questions. See you next time.
You're listening to another MIA podcast. Mamma Mia acknowledges the
traditional owners of the land. We have recorded this podcast
on the Gatagoul people of the Eur Nation. We pay
our respects to their elders past and present, and extend
that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
Hello, m Vernoon here and I am the host of BIZ,
a podcast that gets your work live Sorted. And this
summer we are curating your playlist with unmissable episodes full
of hacks, tips and tricks from our top expert guests
and hosts. And if you're looking for more to listen to,
every Mama Mia podcast is curating your summer listening right
across our network. From pop culture to beauty to powerful interviews,
(01:04):
there is something for everyone. There is a link in
our show notes. Hello and welcome to BIZ Your work
life Sorted. I'm m Vernon and today we're demolishing everything
you thought you knew about mentorship. Get it out of
your mind. If you're jealous of those people who have
that one perfect mentor that guided their entire career, guess what,
(01:29):
Lucky for you, you shouldn't be. We are throwing that
out of the window. It's twenty twenty five and we're
doing mentorship differently now think less marriage proposal and more
dating professional dating that is, unless no professional dating. Like always,
I'm joined by our wonderful career coaches Michelle Battisbee, who
is an entrepreneur and launched Bumble in Australia. She now
(01:51):
runs her own startup and Sofas. She's the one who
took a leap from Google to launch her own coaching
program for people in their early career era, just like myself.
They will be talking about the new era of mentorship
and we think you're going to love this one. Plus
SOFI is going to tell you exactly how to secure
that dream mentor.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
Michelle, do you have a mentor yourself? My ay, sure,
response to that question is no.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
But it's because I haven't put a formal label on
the relationship I have with people I get advice from.
I think having a mentor is really just having someone
that you trust and respect and you can learn from
their experiences. So with that in mind, yes, I do
have mentors, and I do like thinking about mentoring in
(02:38):
a more disarming way where it's not this scary, rigid
formal thing.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Yeah, that's why I'm so excited to get into this episode.
Speaker 4 (02:55):
So this idea of a single mentor or a series
of mentors is really just like being in an open relationship.
You can collect an army of brilliant brains with different
experiences that you can learn from to expand your own career.
I kind of love the open relationship analogy.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And just to continue that further, so
if you look at the traditional model for mentorship, you'd
have this one person and you'd have this long term
relationship with them. The problem with it is that often
it would just get a bit weird, the vibes would
sort of die. It would often start strong and then
end really awkwardly. And also, like a relationship, you sort
(03:38):
of had all this pressure to find this one perfect person.
And I felt this so much. You know, I grew
up in regional in New South Wales. I went to UNI,
and it felt like after UNI, everyone got into the
workforce and everyone kind of had a mentor. You know,
I didn't have a business network around it, had no
clue how to find a mentor myself, and I just
felt really intimidated by the whole thing, and like I'd
already failed because I didn't have a mentor in my career.
(04:01):
So what we want to help you guys do is
to actually reframe what mentorship is, and we want to
explain the new way to do it. Hit us with it.
So for what is the new way to do a mentorship?
So instead of having this one single mentor that you
might have ten chats with in the year, we want
you to think about ten diff diferent people that you
(04:21):
have one conversation with. So this is a series of
mental chats where you have intentional conversations with specific people
to actually learn something and to figure something out. So
it's much more specific. Michelle. The reason that I actually
think this is a way better approach one, you would
be so surprised by who is actually willing to say
yes when it's a once off conversation versus an ongoing commitment. Two,
(04:45):
these conversations are more specific, so you're going to prep
for them. They're more specific and targeted versus a traditional
mentorship relationship, which can often be quite general and sometimes
you just sort of feel like you're filling the space
with questions. So it's more specific and therefore much more
practical and then three, I actually think this approach is
way more inclusive, so anyone can make this work for them,
(05:08):
and you don't have to have sort of a big
existing network of people that you know or work for
a really big company. Anyone can make this approach work.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
I love this so much because it also sounds like
there won't be any awkward breakups with this sort of process.
I became fascinated by this and went out on my
Instagram stories and I run a pole and eighty three
percent of people came back to me saying that they
did not have a mentor, which blew my mind. And
(05:37):
I then asked a follow up question, which was, if
you don't have a mentor but you want one, what
are the blockers? And my question box responses have never
been more packed, and the replies were pretty consistent. So
lots of people want a mentor, but they've got these blockers.
And a big one is cost. People are wondering how
(05:59):
much does it cost? How do you determine that with
a mentor, which we'll get into. They don't know who
to ask and they don't know how to ask. So
this is your bread and butter. This is what you
do at work, baby, let's start with what actually is
a mentor.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Yeah, let's bust some myths. So a mentor is anyone
where you learn from their experiences and then you apply
that knowledge to your own situation. So by asking them questions,
am I listening? I think it's helpful to know the
difference between a mentor and a coach. So a mentor
is someone where the conversation is mostly about that other person,
so you're listening to them and you're applying that to
(06:39):
your own situation. And a mentor conversation is unpaid, they
should really be unpaid, versus a coach, where in a
coaching conversation, the focus of that conversation is typically on you,
so they're going to ask you questions and guide you
and give you frameworks, but it's really fully customized to
you and your situation. Because of that, these conversations are
(07:01):
typically paid. You know, I was pretty shocked actually to
see in some of those dms, Michelle, that people were saying,
you know, how much should I actually pay a mentor?
Or I can't afford to pay a mentor? Well, the
answer to how much should I pay a mentor is
actually zero, because a true mental relationship should be unpaid
because there is this mutual value you exchange, so the
(07:22):
mentor gets something out of it too. So I actually
do both free mentorship and also paid coaching. You know,
I've got five different people that I mentor right now,
and I get so much out of these conversations with them.
I think, you know, the way that they emailed me,
the vibe that we had in that first chat meant that, hey,
I actually do want to stay in touch with these people,
(07:42):
these young, smart, ambitious people. I get so much out
of it. So yeah, it's a mutual value exchange, but
typically a mentorship should be unpaid.
Speaker 4 (07:52):
Honestly, I think that will surprise so many people that definition,
and as you're walking through it, it also, on the
flip side, expands the kinds of people that you could
work with. Like, for example, I do mentoring as well.
I don't do coaching. I don't believe I could do coaching.
So I think there are a lot of people out
there that are willing to share their experiences in more
of a mentoring capacity.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
So I honestly feel.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
Like most people would be down to accept, you know,
mentoring someone who is looking to propel themselves forward and
on your point as well, like from the mentor you're
sitting there thinking, just take from me, extract from me,
like you want them to ask the kinds of questions
that are going to benefit them and unlock nuggets of
your gold free of charge, and it feels really.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Good to do. I think it's about asking it the
right way.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
So after the break the five sentences to land you
a mentorship, so we love to give you practical steps
and advice here. So soph is about to give us
the three steps to develop your mentorship series. And then
(09:04):
so if I want to ask you what we all
should not be doing, so how do we start?
Speaker 3 (09:10):
Okay? Step one is to really ask yourself why am
I doing this? So what am I trying to get
out of it? And I thought it might be helpful
to give you a live example. So let's use the
example of some one who they currently work in sales
and maybe they want to go and work in marketing
and they're kind of thinking like do I do that now?
Or should I just say in sales a bit longer
and work my way out? So Step maumble one is
(09:30):
asking yourself, what am I trying to get out of it?
And why do I want to have these chats. Step
number two is to actually build yourself a short list
of people. So to do that, you're going to be
looking at, Okay, I'm trying to pivot my career from
sales to marketing. Let me maybe try and find some
people that have done that. So you can first look
at your internal network. There might be people within your
(09:50):
company that have done it. You can then go and
do a bunch of LinkedIn stalking so people have so
much information about their careers. It's actually so easy to
find people who have done something similar to what you're
trying to do, and then also just ask you around.
You want to try and land on three to five
people who have done something similar to what you're trying
to do. Now onto step three, which is the very
(10:12):
simple five line email that you were going to send them.
So I wouldn't normally read out an email live, but
because it's so simple, actually just wanted to share that
with you. Now, if you're up for it, love it.
Let's go. The five lines. Line one is high person's name.
I know you're busy and you get a lot of emails.
Part two you're going to start with them. This is
(10:34):
very important, so you want to show I have spent
time researching you, I know something about you, and you're
going to start with them. So an example of that
might be I admired the way you pivoted your career
from X to Y. Or it might be I've been
following your career for a while now and I love
the way you talk about topic X. Part three You're
going to link to you and why you actually want
(10:56):
to have that conversation. So an example might be the
reason I'm interested in this is because I'm also trying
to pivot my career from sales to marketing. And you
know I'm currently working in this role at this company
and it would really help me to understand your process.
Line four. It would have a huge impact on my
career if you're able to give me twenty minutes on
(11:17):
the phone or zoom for a career chat so I
can learn from your experiences and five give them an
out so you say, I know this is a long shot,
and I understand you might need to say no due
to bandwidth. Even getting a reply from you would make
my day.
Speaker 4 (11:34):
I love this so like it's making me feel warm
and fuzzy inside. It's making me feel warm and fuzzy
if I were to receive something like that. But it's
also making me feel like I want to challenge myself.
Now take your template, and I want to report back
by our next episode with like an iconic founder that
I have used this template for to get to mentor me,
(11:56):
because I also think an important point is don't.
Speaker 3 (12:00):
Cut yourself short with who you reach out to.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
Dream big when you write that shortlist of people that
you want to.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
Hit up, even just a story from my own career.
So actually, one of the best mentor chats I've ever
had is with the CMO of Telstra, Brent Smart, and
I was having this amazing chat with him. I think
it was supposed to be an hour and I got
an hour and a half. And I mentioned and in
the chat that one of my very junior reports at
Google actually is a big fan of his and had
sent me his podcast, and Brent said, well, I'll have
(12:28):
a mentorship chat with him. I was thinking, like, there's
no way even do that. Anyway, my report emails brand
and you know, the next week he's having a full
hour with this very senior marketing leader. And he was
very junior at the time, so I think, yeah, exactly
what you said, Michelle, don't hold back, go for your
dream list, and the trick is just really keeping it
(12:49):
very short, making it about them, and explaining why you
want to have this conversation and make it specific, and
you will be so amazed at who is actually going
to say yes.
Speaker 4 (12:57):
Last thing for me on this I also love that
it wasn't can I take you out for a coffee?
Because I do feel like the effort to go out
and meet someone can sometimes just be a hurdle that
you might not have capacity for. But to just jump
on a phone call or zoom is just making someone
else's life easier. So I love that guidance on that
(13:17):
what are the doos and don'ts water the red floh,
what is not going to land you a date?
Speaker 3 (13:22):
So I actually have a lot of people emailing me
to ask for mentorship, and so I just want to
share with you some of the things not to do.
So the first red flag for me is don't just
ask someone can I pick a brain? Don't say that
to them. You really need to show that you've invested
time in understanding who they are and why you're actually
having that conversation. So you want to make it specific.
That's where asking for twenty twenty five minutes on the
(13:44):
phone call or zoom is great. Don't just say can
I pick a brain? The other red flag is never
ask someone to be your mentor. The reason for that is,
I just think like a good mentorship chat, it's quite balanced, right, So,
like mentors love talking about their experience and how they
can actually help young up and comers, you know, So
asking someone to be your mentor, it just starts the
(14:05):
vibe off as being really weird, and it also makes
them feel like they're getting into this long term relationship
but maybe they don't want to be in.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
Yes, it's almost like asking someone to become your committed
like boyfriend or girlfriend before you've ever been on a
first date. You might not need the lane. Maybe that's
one of the takeaways from this episode. You might not
even need that label on the relationship to have a mentor,
and I think that makes it less scary as well.
Speaker 3 (14:29):
That is exactly it. You're just asking for a career chat,
you are not asking for them to be a mentor.
Speaker 4 (14:35):
Yeah, love it. Okay, So what are the action points?
What do I need to do right now to get
a mentor?
Speaker 3 (14:41):
So Step one is to really ask yourself, why am
I actually doing this? What is the decision I'm trying
to make, or what am I trying to get better at?
What am I trying to figure out? Step two is
you want to get your short list of people, so
I think you can even set yourself a goal of, like,
I want to do ten of these mentor chats in
the year, whatever it is for you. And then step
three is you want to have this email template, this
(15:02):
very short email template, and we have made it super
easy for you, so we've got it in the Beer's newsletter.
All you have to do is jump into the show
notes and you can get the subscription link. Subscribe and
we'll send up that email template to you.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Out that eighty three percent of people don't have a
mentor has made me feel so much better about not
having one, and I actually don't even need to feel
bad about it. If you want that five sentence email
template that's going to help you land those dream mental conversations,
it's in our newsletter this week and it's absolutely free
to sign up. There's a link in our show notes
for you to do so. Also, if you do end
(15:43):
up getting a yes from your mentor, which I mean,
of course you will because this template is working for everyone.
Do not stress about what to do next. We are
going to cover exactly how to nail those conversations in
a future episode. And don't forget our biz Inbox episode
drops Sistersday, where we answer all of your career dilemmas.
Check the show notes to find out how to submit
your work questions. See you next time.
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