Dev Bala

VP of AI Products & Platforms | Alum @ Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Startups

I had a hashtag#mentorship chat today with a prominent tech person whom I deeply admire, and in the process, I received some of the best career advice I’ve had in a decade or more. Aside from the advice itself, there were three immediate lessons I’d share with anyone looking for mentorship and guidance:

1. ๐ƒ๐จ๐ง’๐ญ ๐›๐ž ๐š๐Ÿ๐ซ๐š๐ข๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐š๐ฌ๐ค – this is a hard one (for me especially) – we often think we can figure things out on our own, but one thing I know for sure is that life is a team sport. We all need support. It can be hard to reach out, and even more frustrating when you get ignored. But you have to try.

2. ๐๐ž ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ž๐ฉ๐š๐ซ๐ž๐ – you can’t walk into a mentorship conversation with someone senior and expect to be showered with brilliant and personal advice. You need to do your homework, and ideally you need to do it for the other person as well. Make sure they have the context and some idea of what you want up front. Practice and prepare just like you would for an interview.

3. ๐†๐ž๐ง๐ข๐ฎ๐ง๐ž ๐ฆ๐ž๐ง๐ญ๐จ๐ซ๐ฌ๐ก๐ข๐ฉ ๐ก๐š๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ ๐ž๐ญ, ๐š๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ญ’๐ฌ ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐š๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐Ÿ๐ซ๐ž๐ž – there has been a rise of educational / mentorship platforms like Maven and Intro which offer time with important people for a high price. On the one hand, this is the market responding to a need with a product that clearly has fit. On the other hand, I think the best advice comes from people with a genuine desire to be supportive, and that sincerity usually doesn’t come with a price.

To the last point – I realize that not everyone has the time or availability to respond to every request they get (myself included) – but if you are an experienced professional, I would urge you to set a modest goal to help just one person a month. You’d be amazed at how much of an impact you could have on someone’s life.

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By MIT Sloan CDO
MIT Sloan CDO