The Common Misconceptions In Picking A Mentor (video)

In this Expert Insight Interview, Kevin Harris discusses what one needs to look for in a mentor and the common misconceptions related to mentoring and success. Kevin Harris is the president of Radical Mentoring. He sets vision and strategy for the company and serves as an evangelist to new audiences.

This Expert Insight Interview discusses:

• What to look for in a mentor
• The pitfalls of having a highly successful person as your mentor
• How only a few good friends can mean more than a thousand acquaintances

Dig Deeper

Typically, when people look for mentors, they try to pick someone who is really successful in their field. This isn’t always the best choice. We tend to make our choice of mentor based on their appearance of success. Sometimes you must look a little deeper to find two things:

1. A person that has a dynamic story to tell.
2. They are willing to share that story so you can learn from their mistakes.

You don’t necessarily want mentorship from someone who is going to tell you the formula of success. Instead, you want someone who will ask great right questions, be willing to take the time to lean into your relationship, and understand your perspective and how best to engage with you exactly.

Find Someone You Can Relate To

Often highly successful people are far removed from where you are in your life at the moment of seeking mentorship. As humans we tend to look backwards with rose-tinted glasses, so some of the advice you receive from a successful person, though well-intentioned, may not be applicable to your current situation.
If somebody has managed to reach a high level of success in life, they also may have their own insecurities, and may not be entirely comfortable with sharing the steps they had taken to attain their status.

Choose Quality Over Quantity

More time with fewer people will create a greater impact. We live in a strange culture of social media where one’s self-worth is measured in the number of followers and likes. Unfortunately, this existence of total exposure has led us to lose sight of quality in our relationships, and we are more connected, yet more isolated than ever before.
Having a handful of people in your life who know you through-and-through and are willing ask you the tough questions is more valuable than having thousands of acquaintances or social media followers.

Our Host

John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.