the importance of mentoring w/ alishah novin
guest: alishah novin, director of engineering
- look for a mentor who has no personal stake in your success so they can give an outside, honest perspective
- when reaching out to a potential mentor, lead with situation, ask, and background so busy people can respond quickly
- the mentee should drive the relationship by coming with a clear, specific ask instead of a vague open-ended question
- use the what else question repeatedly in mentoring conversations to get past surface answers and uncover real issues
- companies should avoid pairing people with their direct manager as a mentor since that creates bias and limits honest feedback