Sometimes the expectation mismatch. If people come to you, and they’ll be say, explicit, say, “Can you be my mentor? Can you be a sponsor?” And you don’t have a relationship, and you’re not quite sure what it is that they want to get out of it. So, I think, for me, it’s helpful to ask them to clarify what it is that they’re looking for specifically, and what it is that they think I can help them with. Because to me, it’s not always apparent.
Also, there’s different people that I’ve talked to, and some, I just immediately gravitate to, and say, “Oh, I will do whatever I can to help you.” And other people that I’ve talked to, I get the sense that perhaps they’re not really looking for a mentoring relationship, but more looking to leverage my network, perhaps. And so, those are a little bit more challenging. And I have not figured out how to overcome that type of…
Because actually, I don’t even view that as a true mentoring relationship, so I won’t say that that’s an obstacle to be overcome. But I’ve learned from some of my friends and colleagues, some of whom are on the advisory board of WGCN, and how they will frame their expectations. They’ll say, “If you can send me an email telling me, outlining what it is that you want to get out of the conversation, or telling me, like just being more specific.”
The more specific the ‘ask’ can be, the more helpful, I mean, and every relationship is going to be different. Some just become friendships, and so, it’s more of an ad hoc mentoring relationship. So, I think they are all different.
