Super Mentors

Eric Koester is an adjunct professor at Georgetown University's Business School, and the founder of Manuscripts, a private education provider. He is also a partner in early stage investor NextGen Venture Partners, and the founder of the Intrapreneur Institute. He was previously co-founder and COO of Main Street Genome (acquired by Dining Alliance), a director of UP Global (which owns and runs Startup Weekends), and founder and COO of Zaarly Inc. He is a graduate of The George Washington University Law School and Marquette University.

Adam Saven is co-founder and CEO of EdTech company PeopleGroove. He was previously co-founder and CEO of Emjoyment, and business analyst at Google and Credit Suisse. He is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania.

The conventional approach was that you find a mentor who would guide you long-term to success, happiness, wealth, and the promised land. Unfortunately, in the real world of today, that person does not exist. Instead, modern mentorship is more about opportunity than advice.

What you need today is more someone who will open doors, provide an introduction, or move your resume to the top of the pile. In other words, you need a "Super Mentor" who will help you achieve an extraordinary outcome. To find and work with a good Super Mentor, it really comes down to aligning and complying with the Four Laws of Super Mentors:

Don't worry about trying to find the perfect mentor. Instead, focus on the process you use to create opportunities for great people to mentor you on a specific project or collaboration. Specifically, leverage the PAST framework:

P — Identify the right people.

A — Ask them to work with you the right way.

S — Start your relationship on the right foot.

T — Get mentors involved at the right time.

What makes a mentor super? Pure and simple a Super Mentor will help you solve significant, immediate problems in your life and career. The secret of finding a Super Mentor is not to start with the person; start with the problem you're facing. Then find the right person to help you move forward. Super Mentors can and should drive tangible outcomes that matter to you.

P — The Law of the Right Person. Find the people who have the power to transform and upgrade your career trajectory. Learn how to connect with the people who have access to and control the opportunities you're seeking.

A — The Law of the Right Ask. When you approach a mentor, have something specific in mind. Make your ask simple, and schedulable. Explain the opportunity to work together, and acknowledge their capacity to add value. Learn how to make the right ask to get great opportunities.

S — The Law of the Right Start. Always begin the mentor relationship small. Build some momentum, and then take steps to make it super. Learn how to grow mentor relationships so you can work your way up to genuinely transformative career and life opportunities over time.

T — The Law of the Right Time. Mentorship has seasons. Engage the ideal mentor at the right time in your life and career. Learn how to identify the stages of your career, so you can then figure out the right mentors to support you as you go through those stages. Be self-aware.

1. Conventional mentors who guide you all through your career just don't exist any more. People are just too busy. Modern mentorship is more about opportunity than advice.
2. Don't worry about trying to find the perfect mentor. Instead, focus on the process you use to create opportunities for great people to mentor you on a specific project or collaboration.
3. Look for a SuperMentor who will help you solve immediate, significant problems in your life or career. Find the right person to move you forward, and work with them on just that project. Rinse and repeat.

Has the process of getting a business mentor changed? Traditionally, having a mentor was a long-term deal. They would give you sound career device, hook you up to interesting development opportunities, and act as background advisers over the course of your glittering career. You'd have the same mentor for years, or more often decades.

In this week's book, SUPERMENTORS, authors Eric Koester and Adam Saven suggest that conventional style of mentoring is out of date and unworkable. Eric Koester is a venture capital investor and adjunct professor at Georgetown University's Business School. Adam Saven is the co-founder and CEO of PeopleGroove, an EdTech company. Koester and Saven suggest mentorship today is more about opportunity than advice.

They point out that what you really need today from a mentor is someone who can open doors, provide an introduction, or move your resume to the top of the pile — a "SuperMentor". They suggest that rather than obsessing over finding the right lifetime mentor, you should create opportunities for great people to mentor you on just a single project or collaboration instead. To achieve that, use the PAST framework: P — Identify the right person. A — Ask them to work with you the right way. S — Start your relationship the right way. T — Get a mentor involved at the right time.

Has mentoring changed? I suspect they might be right. The logical way to get ahead now is to link up with some SuperMentors who can help you pull off some great projects. Link up with exceptional people, and get great stuff done.