How not to solicit a mentor

An imaginary email

In a recent podcast episode with Luminary founder and CEO Cate Luzio, she talked a bit about mentorship. Below is a written reenactment of how she advises that you *not* go about getting a mentor. 

From: You
To: Person you admire

Subject line: Would you be my mentor? 

Hello person I admire!

You don’t know me, but I’ve been following you on LinkedIn for a while now and I really love what you do! You are such an inspiration! Would you please mentor me? 

Thanks in advance for saying yes,

You

So, don’t do that. Why not? Because you don’t have a relationship with this person. There is no context for this ask. Mentorship grows from relationships. It’s only from the context of a preexisting relationship that a solid mentorship can develop. 

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I highly recommend listening to my full conversation with Cate. Listen to ‘Ep #194: Advancing Your Career through Community with Cate Luzio’ on my podcast, Women Changing Leadership with Stacy Mayer.