We’ve all seen the graphic or heard the concept.

Our careers are not linear - even though coming out of school, many of us probably expected them to be.

I have been doing a lot of reflection as of late.

One of the things I keep coming back to is an immense amount of gratitude for the mentors who have impacted each stage of my career.

Today, I am going to share a few actionable tips for how to find, use, and maximize your mentors to supercharge your career.

1/ Mentors should evolve as your career does

I’m going to start with my biggest belief and learning when it comes to mentors.

They should evolve as your career does.

• While at Nike, years 1-5 of my career, I sought direction from Director level folks who were 10 years ahead of me.

• While at G5, my first tech startup and years 6-11, I looked for direction from executives in the business and outside of it that had already scaled a startup.

• At Rent Dynamics, my first executive position and years 12-14, I looked for executives who had led due diligence and had multiple exits of their own.

The point being - the group of people that I looked for mentorship from evolved as my career did.

My core belief is that you should intentionally evolve who you seek mentorship from based on the role you are in and your near term aspirations.

2/ The relationship with your mentors should be intentional

I currently have 3 core mentors that I look to for advice, direction, and objective feedback.

Additionally, I am currently a mentor to 4 people spanning roles like Director of Marketing, VP of Sales, and Chief Revenue Officer.

All of these relationships are intentional - my mentors know they are my mentors, and my mentees know that I am their mentor.

I really think that there is a superpower when it comes to the mentor/mentee relationship, and it boils down to intention. Here are a few things that I believe:

• The relationship with your mentor should be spoken. You’ve asked for mentorship, they’ve said yes, and it’s something you step into together.

• There should be a cadence that you both follow. I like bi-weekly or monthly, or even quarterly. Whatever it is - there should be a meeting cadence or rhythm.

• There should be a purpose. I’ve had mentors who I’ve found when I was looking to step into a new role, tackle a big organizational change, or enter due diligence for the first time. On the flip side - I’ve had people ask me for mentorship when they want to make the move from the client to the vendor side in Multifamily. Purpose will drive results.

3/ How to find a mentor

This one is where I see people get lost or fail to start and take action.

How do you find a mentor?

There are a few ways to start - and I’ll be more specific than saying LinkedIn (although LinkedIn is a super place to start!!!).

• Your company leadership. I like to look at leaders that you don’t vertically align to (example if you are in sales, look to operations, marketing, product, etc).

• Past company leadership. Same as the above - but my guess is that you’ve worked for or around execs that have gone on to do amazing things.

• Find a community. For sales professionals - there are paid groups like Pavilion or free ones like RepGenius. In our industry, there is an emerging group called ‘AMP Network’ and Tara Samuels is doing a stellar job building it.

I’d love to hear your take on mentorship.

What has worked?

Or what’s held you back from investing in this?

I hope this was helpful and that it sparks something new for you.

Have a wonderful weekend and I’ll see you next Friday.

Mike