The Power of Mentors: Lessons from Angela Duckworth, Alex Rodriguez, & more

The one thing that all of our Masters of Scale guests seem to agree on? Mentorships matter. Wherever you are on your entrepreneurial journey, a mentor can have a life-changing impact on your business and personal development. In the most recent Masters of Scale episode, leaders from a wide range of fields share how to cultivate the most impactful and meaningful mentorships. Here are some of those insights:?

Make mentorship mutual. Best-selling author and psychologist Angela Duckworth emphasizes the importance of cultivating a community of mentors to symbiotically help and mentor each other. She further explains, "It could be somebody who's doing something totally different, but you should be meeting regularly, trading stories, crying on each other's shoulders." You can watch Angela's full interview here:

Embrace honesty and tough love. Media executive Allison Kluger 's first mentor was, as she puts it, "the woman who I was most frightened of." Allison recalls a challenging and transformative moment when this mentor provided some tough advice in a vulnerable moment. Allison shares, "The fact that she was so honest with me and was willing to tell me something that was hard to hear… was really the start of me understanding the power of a mentor. A mentor isn't someone who's going to flatter you and make it easy for you. A mentor is going to tell you the truth, is going to kick your ass, and is going to want you to be the best version of yourself."

Try the "10 touch rule." Before you ask a mentor — or someone you'd like to be your mentor — for advice or a favor, make sure you first build a connection. Entrepreneur and baseball icon Alex Rodriguez explains that he gained prestigious mentors like Warren Buffett and Magic Johnson through his "10 touch rule." The rule requires creating 10 useful and meaningful points of contact prior to asking for something: "I would try to touch bases 10 times before asking for any single thing. [I'd] build real credibility… by figuring out creative ways [to build the relationship]: 'Can I send an article? How do I celebrate them? How can I give credit? How can I make a connection?' Everybody can be helped in some way." Listen to A-Rod's episode on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

To learn more about creating meaningful mentorships from iconic business leaders, listen to our mentorship episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

?? Explore: Strengthen your network with Affinity

Founders and investors both know about the importance of building and managing professional relationships. And it's true — you never know which connection will become your start-up's secret ingredient for scale, or the key to your firm's next deal. If you're not sure where to start with growing your network, try experimenting with a tool like Affinity, a relationship-intelligence platform that automatically analyzes your team’s network across all communication channels, sifting through the data to find the connection you need to close the deal. Affinity is great for internal organization too, with its AI-powered Notetaker tool that pulls real-time insights and next steps from your meetings.

Learn more about Affinity.

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