The Cautionary Tale of Extremists and Contrarians

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