The Thing I Wish I'd Had Thirty Years Ago.
A free mentorship kit. Six cards. Each one with a clear job.
Most mentor pairs go quiet around month three.
Not because the people don’t care. They do. They show up. They mean well. They just lose the thread. The mentor isn’t sure what their job is anymore. The mentee isn’t sure what to bring. The sessions get vague. The growth slows. Eventually one of them cancels and the other doesn’t push to reschedule.
I’ve watched this happen more times than I want to count. With pairs I coached. With pairs I sponsored through formal programs. With my own first mentor, decades ago.
So I built the thing I wish I’d had.
It’s a kit. Six single-page cards. Each one with one clear job. You can print them, hand them out, set them on the table at your sessions. Or treat them as personal reference and never show them to anyone. Either way works.
What’s in it:
The Launching Pad. The agreement you walk through and sign together at session one. Sets the cadence, the commitments, the confidentiality, and what happens if it stops working.
The Mentor Card. Behaviors that build trust, the ones that erode it, and the power questions to draw from when you don’t know what to ask. Plus the default question for any moment you’re stuck: “Tell me more about that.”
The Mentee Card. What to bring, how to prepare, what the hour looks like, and the topics that are actually worth raising. This one is for the mentee to own.
Feedback vs FeedForward. Two different tools. Why they’re not the same. And exactly what to say when you want one or the other.
Why FeedForward Works. The thinking behind the practice. Why behavior change is a social process, not a private one. Why feedback alone usually doesn’t move the needle.
The Final Session. How to close the program with intention, including the Forward Letter exercise. Most mentorships fade. The strong ones close on purpose.
Nothing here is meant to be memorized. The cards do the remembering for you.
Free download below. Take it. Use it. 👇
Share it with a pair you know who’s doing the work.
The goal is more good leaders, working better with the people around them.
One pair at a time.
