#102 - Mentorship, Sponsorship, and A Message to Garcia
Hello, and welcome to another episode of CISO Tradecraft -- the podcast that provides you with the information, knowledge, and wisdom to be a more effective cybersecurity leader. My name is G. Mark Hardy, and today's episode is about how to better mentor your people (and in doing so, improve yourself as well.) Mentoring is an important part of being a leader, and I would venture that most listeners have achieved their current level of success with the insights of a mentor, along with a lot of hard work. Today we're going to give you a template for creating a personal development plan you can use with your team. I also want to introduce you to a booklet that I keep on my desk. It was written in 1899. Do you have any idea what it might be? Well, keep listening and you'll find out, and you may end up getting yourself a copy of your own. Let's take a moment to hear from today's sponsor Obsidian Security. Career success rarely happens independently -- it usually involves multiple milestones, promotions, and sometimes moves. But success shouldn't be a secret. As Tony Robbins said, "success leaves clues." One of the best ways to achieve personal or professional success, or indeed help others do the same, is through mentoring and sponsorship. But the right person rarely shows up at our doorstep offering us the key to the future -- we have to go out and make that relationship happen. Today we're going to talk about mentors, protégés, sponsors, and that little booklet that has a repeatable secret for success. Definitions Let's start with what is a mentor - the dictionary definition is "an experienced and trusted adviser." My definition is it's a person with more experience and WISDOM who is willing to provide guidance to someone else -- a protégé. Notice I didn't say anything about careers -- you can have a spiritual mentor, an academic mentor, and if you're a new grandparent you want to pass along some tips to help raise your grandkids. You may also hear the term "mentee" instead of protégé -- I see that used from time to time, but it makes me think of those big slow sea creatures that keep getting run over by speedboats. Mentor Let's talk about the who, what, when, why, and how of being a mentor. The WHO part is someone with experience and wisdom willing to share insights. Insights about WHAT, at least as far as we're concerned today, is usually career-related -- what jobs or assignments may be best, what personal characteristics are important, whom should you meet and why. The WHEN portion of mentoring is usually a condition of the type of relationship. A traditional one-on-one mentor relationship may be established formally or informally. We established a program at work where those willing to offer advice could volunteer as a mentor and those seeking advice could request the assistance of a mentor. I was asked by our most senior technical security expert if I would serve as his mentor -- an assignment which I was pleased to accept, and we held mentoring sessions quarterly. Of course, we worked together more frequently than that, but those sessions were specifically about what he could learn from me as a mentor, and what I could do to structure his experiences to help with his personal and career growth. [Irish whiskey story] The WHY can be either because there is a mentorship program at your organization (and if there isn't one, do your homework and consider proposing one) or because someone reached out and requested assistance. Mentoring is not like doing the dishes where anyone can do a competent job. It requires empathy, communication skills, wisdom, and time commitment. I'm at the point in my life and career where I actively try to help others who are not as old as I am. Many times, that's appreciated, but some people seem to prefer to make all of their own mistakes and resist the effort. Oh, well. As my Latin teacher used to say, "suum quique" -- to each their own. Finally, the HOW. Mentors should prioritize their sessions by preparing in advance and setting aside time without interruptions. Establish an agenda based upon specific requirements -- not just what the protégé wants but what the mentor believes he needs. Martina Bretous published an article on HubSpot where she points out ten ways to be an amazing mentor: Understand what you want out of the relationship. Set expectations together in the very beginning. Take a genuine interest in your mentee as a person. Build trust. Know when to give advice. Don’t assume anything about your mentee – ask. Share your journey. Celebrate their achievements. Seek out resources to help your mentee grow. Be sure you have the bandwidth. In summary, if you want to be a mentor and seek out the right people in whom to invest your time, here's a short checklist. Look for protégés with a strong work ethic -- people who have built a reputation of delivering on time on budget. Select only those people of the proper character -- you don't want to be teaching a sociopath how to take over the organization. And you'll find you work better with others who share similar values. If you value hard work, honesty, humility, and perseverance, look for those characteristics, or at least the potential to develop those characteristics, in your potential mentee. We all know how hard it is to change ourselves. Think about how much harder it is to change someone else. In the end, you're just showing the way and it's up to the other person to take the appropriate actions, but you want to build a winning record of successful mentorships -- it doesn't help your own career if you're viewed as the incubator of failure. Protege As listeners of this show, you are likely in a position to be a mentor. But that doesn't mean you can't benefit from having a mentor yourself. Let's look at the who, what, when, why, and how of being a protégé. The WHO is someone who can gain insight from a relationship with someone farther along in a given path. Mentees may be assigned a mentor relationship, or they may seek out that relationship on their own. Both are valid paths, and even if a formal program exists it's often up to the mentee to select from available mentors. It doesn't always work the other way around [Navy mentor story.] The WHAT is the reason for participating in this type of relationship. Usually, it's to gain insight into career and professional goals, but as I mentioned earlier, it can be about most anything where you could learn from someone who's not in the role of a teacher or supervisor. WHEN should you seek the advice of a mentor? Well, there's probably never a time NOT to seek advice, but if you're heads-down in a long project that you enjoy or find yourself in a position where you're content and soon winding down your career, then I suppose you're fine going it alone. Otherwise, after you've been in a position for a year or so and you've figured out your current role and how you fit in, that might be a suitable time to start looking for a mentor. I think the WHY is obvious, but let's address it. No one knows everything, but someone usually knows what you need. Seeking a mentor is a rational way of gaining insights that can help move your career along. And HOW do you become a protégé? You need to a-s-k to g-e-t. Potential mentors are usually busy people -- they don't go looking for more things to add to an already overwhelming calendar. That said, the saying "if you want something done, give it to a busy person" is often true, because busy people are in the business of making things happen. If your organization offers a mentorship program, jump at the opportunity. Just make sure that the person with whom you are paired has the time, the expertise, and the interest to help you in your career. When searching for a mentor, remember that you should have a clear goal in mind. "Hey, I need a mentor" isn't very specific, and the Mr. Rodger's "won't you be my mentor?" isn't very compelling. Rather, start with a specific objective. For example, it could be, "how do I become fully qualified to become a first-line manager?" or "what does this organization look for when selecting a C-level executive?" Once you have your goal, you can start your search, but remember that you need to stay professional. You're not seeking a drinking buddy -- a mentor rarely is a peer (although technically I have heard of peer-to-peer mentoring, but that runs the risk of the parable of the two blind men who both fall into a ditch.) You want someone with relevant knowledge and experience. And ideally first develop a working relationship before you pop the question. A busy mentor will feel more comfortable working with a known quantity than being left to wonder if this person represents a reputational risk. Let's turn our conversation now to sponsors. Sponsors Executive coach May Busch recommends forming a career board of directors to advance your career. She points out that you need both mentors and sponsors -- sponsors are those in your organization with sufficient clout to put you into key assignments and can advocate behind closed doors for your career advancement. Wow -- sounds great; where do I sign up? The issue is that you typically can't recruit sponsors; they come looking for you. Like a mentee, a "sponsee" represents potential risk to sponsors -- they are putting their own credibility with peers on the line by advocating for you. If you crash and burn, you both lose. Like any sales effort, you shouldn't put all of your eggs in a single basket, so if you want to identify a potential sponsor, look for a couple of candidates. Now, where you work there may be exactly one person who controls the vertical and the horizontal, but in most matrixed organizations, there is a range of opportunities to find advocacy. Find out who is senior enough to influence t
