21: Mentorship: Strengthening Mentor-Mentee Relationships

In this episode of the How to Succeed in Product Management Podcast, marketing professor Jeff Shulman and The Product Management Center advisory board member Red Russak and Soumeya Benghanem welcome Wade Pinder (Mainline), Ana Maria Garcia (The Home Depot), Carol Tyger (Vivante Health), and Martie K. Burris (Salesforce) to talk about strengthening mentorship. For new PMs, finding the right mentor is essential while learning the foundations and disciplines of product management, therefore, it is important to take note that forming a genuine connection between the mentor and mentee is the root of all successful mentorships.

Support for How to Succeed in Product Management is brought to you by Apptentive, which enables product managers to measure shifts in customer emotion and gather actionable feedback across the mobile customer journey. To learn more, go to Apptentive.com/UW.

What to Listen For:

• 00:00 Intro
• 07:50 The three types of mentors
• 10:43 How do you find the perfect mentor?
• 12:13 Asking someone to mentor you is a huge commitment
• 16:15 How do you reject a mentee?
• 22:28 The best type of mentor-mentee relationship is the informal type
• 25:33 Finding some sort of personal connection makes relationships last
• 28:08 How do you decide whether to take somebody on as a mentee?   
• 31:54 How to make sure that the mentor-mentee relationship runs smoothly
• 35:46 Look for frameworks for prioritization and discipline
• 40:36 PMs should know about the ins and outs of product management
• 43:13 The difference between a mentor and a sponsor
• 47:33 Once you learn the discipline, you can be any type of PM
• 50:47 It’s important to find a mentor early on in your career
• 52:17 Go back to the fundamentals when communicating
• 55:04 Mentorship is helping people identify their blind spots 
• 57:20 Transparency is key and always share your intentions