Executive Mentoring Programs

The best mentor for a senior FMCG executive is rarely the most famous one. I get asked about mentorship constantly. Most of the questions are really one question dressed three different ways: how do I find someone like X to mentor me? X is almost always a name on a stage. Here's what I've learned across years of matching senior executives with mentors through LS Elevate and what most leaders chase too late. The strongest mentor relationships I see are unglamorous. → A recently retired CCO who has time, perspective, and zero ego left to protect. They tell you the truth without needing the relationship to advance anything. → A former operator with one less title than you have today. They remember what you're navigating because they're not far enough past it to romanticize it. → A leader two stages ahead in a similar transition. Not "five stages ahead" — that's a celebrity mentor, and the gap is too wide to be useful. Two stages is the sweet spot. The matching question I ask at LS Elevate first is not "who do you admire?" That's a celebrity-mentor question and it almost never produces a useful answer. The question I ask first is: "What specific transition are you in?" → First time leading a P&L? You need someone who's done that transition recently and remembers it. → Moving from CMO to CEO? You need someone who's made that exact pivot — not someone who's been a CEO for fifteen years. → Founder considering selling? You need someone who's stood at that exact LOI and made a deliberate choice in either direction. The answer to that question narrows the universe of useful mentors fast. It usually produces a name you wouldn't have thought to ask. For senior leaders who've had a great mentor: what made the match work? Was it the chemistry, the timing, the specificity, or simply that they were two stages ahead and willing to be honest? #Mentorship #Leadership #LSElevate #FMCG #ExecutiveDevelopment

"I have five mentors," the rising star told me. "But I'm still stuck at senior manager." I was helping her company figure out why top talent kept leaving. "What about sponsors?" I asked. "What's the difference?" "Mentors tell you how to navigate the game. Sponsors change the game for you." She looked confused. "Your mentors give great advice?" "Amazing advice. Coffee chats. Career planning. They help me see what I'm missing." "Ever get promoted based on their advice?" Silence. "Let me guess. They tell you to be patient. Build your skills. Wait for the right opportunity." "Exactly." "Meanwhile, who's getting promoted?" "People with half my experience. But their boss fights for them in talent reviews." "That's a sponsor." I pulled up her company's last promotion cycle. 87% of promotions had one thing in common: A senior leader who advocated in the room. Not a mentor who gave advice. A sponsor who took action. "My mentors genuinely care about me," she said. "I'm sure they do. But caring doesn't get you promoted. Power does." I talked to her mentors. "She's brilliant," one said. "I tell everyone how talented she is." "Do you advocate for her in succession planning?" "That's not my place. I'm not her manager." "When her name comes up for opportunities?" "I'm not usually in those discussions." There it was. Five mentors. Zero power. All advice. No advocacy. I went to the CHRO. "Your mentorship program is failing," I said. "We have 200 mentor-mentee pairs." "How many mentees got promoted last year?" She pulled the data. "Eight." "Out of 200?" "The program is about development, not promotion." "Development without advancement is just busy work." We dug deeper. The eight who got promoted? They all had sponsors, not just mentors. Someone who didn't just give advice. Someone who put their reputation on the line. Six months later, new program: Every high-potential gets a sponsor. Not someone who meets for coffee. Someone who owns their advancement. Sponsors had skin in the game: Their performance review included their sponsee's career progression. The result? Promotion rate for sponsored talent: 73%. Promotion rate for mentored-only talent: 11%. The rising star from earlier? Her sponsor got her promoted twice in 18 months. "What changed?" I asked her. "My mentor taught me how to fish. My sponsor made sure I got in the boat." Here's the truth about career advancement: Mentors open your mind. Sponsors open doors. Mentors share wisdom. Sponsors share power. Mentors tell you what you need to know. Sponsors make sure the right people know you. Your best employees aren't looking for another coffee chat. They're looking for someone who'll fight for them when they're not in the room. Because in most companies, talent alone doesn't get you promoted. Advocacy does. _____ Like my content? Give me a follow. Want to see more of it? Click the 🔔 on my profile. .

I went from SDR to Sr. Manager running pricing in 4 years. Every new job and promotion came from the help of mentors. My mentors reviewed my content to help me get clearer with my writing and helped me think through potential objections or questions from leaders on projects. One of my mentors is why I pivoted from my role in product marketing to running the competitive function at Grafana Labs - she suggested it when I wasn’t even in the room. 3 types of mentors everyone should have: a mentor, thought partner, and sponsor (separate from your board of directors). Mentor: At or above your level (similar function) This is someone who knows your discipline or is in the function you want to be in next You spend time knowledge sharing what projects they work on, offer to give feedback, and learn how they operate Take these lessons, apply them to your own role and share the feedback on how it went with your mentor Thought partner: At or above your level (same function) This is someone who shares the same ambitions or interests as you that you can continuously bounce ideas off of. This could be someone on your team or in a different department or even a different company. Knowledge share with these folks, review work together, brainstorm together. These are people who complement your weaknesses and vice versa. Sponsor: At the highest level at your company This is typically a VP or C-suite. Executives at companies are effectively resource allocators. When you are working on projects that affect the business, you will work with execs to get resources from a team or multiple teams. Finding an executive who can help sponsor you by unblocking you, helping secure resources, or promoting your work to get you on what’s most important for the business is key. You should have more than one sponsor if possible across functions. Having different types of mentors also gives you practice in tailoring the altitude of your conversation and switching context. E.g. if your thought partner is at a different company than you, practice sharing just the right amount of context so they can help. For weekly tips like this straight to your inbox you can find my newsletter in the first comment #negotiation #theopsguy

I’ve never been satisfied with traditional mentoring - so I tried something new last year. Traditional mentorship programs often fall into the same traps. People sign up without knowing who they’ll mentor or how they can actually help. Then there’s the time commitment issue: mentors are told to expect a few hours here and there, but end up with program requirements that require much more, leaving mentors feeling overused and underappreciated. I wanted to help people avoid these traps. With the Pioneer Council, we focused on mentors who had the skill, passion, and drive to help our cohort - and we gave them a strict rule: They were to volunteer eight hours over three months. No exceptions. Even when some mentors asked to volunteer more time after their first sessions, we said no. Why? Because our cohort needed to learn that part of being a CEO is learning to make the most of limited opportunities. If you can’t maximize the time someone gives you, you might not get a second chance. It was a harsh lesson - and it worked for everyone.  Mentors felt their time was valuable and impactful, and founders came away with meaningful insights and actionable advice. 100% of our Pioneer Council members have said they want to come back and do it again next year. Even better, our Net Promoter Score results were a 10 out of 10 (+100) meaning our participating members would recommend our program to others. This experiment showed me that rethinking the basics can lead to big improvements. Sometimes, making an impact is not about doing more - it’s about doing better with less.

Unexpected leadership vacancies don’t create instability. Unprepared successors do. A senior leader exits. A high performer is promoted overnight. There’s no succession plan. And suddenly someone is leading a team, a budget, or a strategy they were never intentionally prepared to own. This is where organizations quietly lose traction. Not because they lack talent. Because they lack readiness. We promote for results. But leadership requires strategic judgment, influence across functions, executive presence, and decision making under pressure. Those capabilities are developed. They are not activated by a title. The organizations that navigate unexpected transitions well build their bench before they need it. That is why we created the Leadership Exchange. A structured mentoring and coaching framework designed to prepare high potential employees and emerging leaders before the vacancy happens. Succession planning is not a document. It is a developmental system. When a key leader left your organization, was the successor truly ready or simply available?

Last week, I met the team of Orah Nutrichem Pvt. Ltd. to conduct an ‘𝐎𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧’ of the mentoring journey I will be facilitating for their them. These are one-to-one sessions wherein people from cross functional roles will interact with me about their aspirations, challenges, fears, dreams, and I will be handholding and guiding them in this journey. I will also be wearing the hat of an ‘enabler’ and ‘friend’ where a safe space will be provided for them to share their thoughts and feelings. This is going to be a year long journey, with meeting each one of them once, every month. The benefit of this type is in relationship approach and connection. A mentor and mentee can focus on the exact development needs of the mentee and, as a result, speed up the entire growth process. One-on-one mentoring is also suitable for succession planning. In the words of the Director, Rohit Dubepatil “I want to have this program so that it helps build individuals to their highest good’. People will receive salaries every month, however if they can benefit from a sounding board to grow themselves further, the purpose of this program is achieved.’ When organizations decide to 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦, the benefits are multifold: 1)  A mentorship program can inspire or challenge participants to get outside their comfort zone and learn something new. Being in a mentor/mentee relationship can also improve job satisfaction, as 90% of employees with a career mentor reported being happier at work. 2)  Mentoring can expand a mentee’s professional network as mentors often introduce mentees to other professionals to facilitate opportunities for organizational collaboration, and career advancement. 3)  Mentees can become aware of their own emotions and build up their EQ. By sharing their fears, challenges and struggles in a safe space provided, they get an opportunity to reflect, challenge and check emotions which help them and hinder them. 4)  Mentors can provide fresh insights into a situation, process, or business from a different angle. Mentees can learn how to do something for the first time, gain a better understanding of the business, launch new projects, organize the work of a department, and much more. 5)  Mentorships are an engaging way for mentees to learn more about leadership, making decisions, growing businesses, or managing departments. In the long run, the mentee can adopt the mentor’s leadership style, while mentors can use their mentorship experience to improve and practice their leadership skills. 𝐃𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚 𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧? 𝐋𝐞𝐭’𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. #MeetaMeraki #Mentoringprogram

The more senior you become, the more people look to you for answers. And, oddly, the fewer people there are willing to challenge them. That is one of the quieter risks of executive leadership. Not lack of skill, experience, or lack of information, rather a lack of perspective. I’ve written about why mentoring becomes more valuable at executive level, not less. Particularly when decisions carry commercial weight. Every Help to Grow: Management Course mentee I have worked with has shared tangible commercial benefit as well as leadership. Every paying mentee has demanded and received it as part of our contracting. But you have to be open to perspective and reflection, and understand that mentoring will challenge you. The data is interesting too. Association of Business Mentors (ABM) research found that 65% of business leaders said mentoring helped increase revenue, 64% reported improved profits and 63% reported headcount growth. So perhaps mentoring is not the soft leadership extra it is sometimes assumed to be. Perhaps it is a commercial discipline. A way to improve judgement, create thinking space and reduce the risk of making big decisions in an echo chamber. https://lnkd.in/evgkEuRP #mentoring #businessmentoring #executivementoring

Effective leadership mentorship involves a seasoned leader (mentor) guiding and supporting a less-experienced individual (mentee) to nurture their leadership potential. Key elements include: Role Modeling: Mentors set an example for positive leadership traits. Goal Alignment: Mentees' development aligns with organizational objectives. Empowerment: Mentees gain confidence through hands-on experience. Networking and Exposure: Mentors introduce mentees to professional networks. Time Commitment: Regular meetings for progress and knowledge transfer. Open Communication: Mentees feel comfortable discussing concerns. Personalized Approach: Tailoring guidance to each mentee's journey. Succession Planning: Identifying and grooming potential successors. Ethical Leadership: Instilling values of integrity, fairness, and accountability. Sponsorship: Advocating for mentees' career advancement. In summary, leadership mentorship shapes future leaders, contributing to individual and organizational success. #LeadWithSimmone

I recently spent the day with leaders from a Fortune 60 company, and here’s what I realized about mentorship at the highest levels. The most successful executives don’t have just one mentor. I was brought in to help a group of mid-and-senior executives with their mentorship program. Like many companies, they'd realized that their mid-level managers and leaders could benefit from mentorship, so they basically matched each person up and said, "do mentoring." The problem was in post-program feedback all the mentors said it went great, while nearly all the mentees said it was a bit of a time waste. The senior leaders were shocked. I wasn't. Over the past five years through my research for Super Mentors and my consulting and training programs, I’ve worked with some of the world’s top companies—$90B+ financial firms, leading healthcare companies, and Fortune 500 giants. Most senior people think they are great mentors. Most of the people they mentor think otherwise. Opportunities > Advice When I meet people who are fans of mentorship, they rarely have a single mentor. Instead, they nearly all have a network of people who challenge them, push them, and open doors. 🚀 One mentor advocates for them in high-stakes situations. 🚀 One mentor forces them to see their blind spots. 🚀 One mentor connects them to game-changing opportunities. That’s why, when companies tell me they want to develop great leaders, I ask: “Are you teaching people how to FIND the right mentors?” Because here’s the truth: -- Executives with diverse mentorship networks are 5X more likely to get promoted. -- Companies with structured mentorship programs see a 72% employee retention rate. -- Without strong mentorship, top talent leaves for companies that invest in their growth. The best leaders don’t rely on one mentor. They build mentorship systems around them. Forced mentor-matching programs rarely yield the outcomes we want. It winds up with awkward meetings, unsolicited advice, and rarely much in the way of transformative outcomes. If you're trying to build better mentorship in your company, help your people build a network of casual mentors. Teach the mentors how to give social capital -- connections, access, opportunities. Want to learn more about how many of the most hyper successful people build their mentor networks? 📩 DM me for a free copy of Super Mentors. 🔗 Subscribe here: https://lnkd.in/ezqJEdZe #mentorship #leadership #networking

Mentoring Wednesday  High-potential talent exists in every organization. But high-performing leaders do not emerge by accident. That is where many organizations get it wrong. They identify talent, celebrate potential, and then assume growth will happen naturally. It usually does not. Potential needs structure. Potential needs exposure. Potential needs feedback. Potential needs advocacy. I have seen talented leaders stall not because they lacked ability, but because they lacked access to the right experiences. They were not invited into strategic conversations. They were not given stretch assignments. They were not coached through complexity. They were not sponsored when opportunity appeared. Sheryl Sandberg said, "Leadership is about making others better as a result of your presence." That is the work of mentorship. Mentorship is not casual encouragement. It is intentional acceleration. It helps leaders move from confidence gaps to capability. From potential to performance. From being seen as promising to being trusted with impact. One of my signature beliefs is: Potential becomes performance when opportunity meets preparation. The organizations that win do not just identify future leaders. They build systems to accelerate them. That means creating leadership pathways, mentoring structures, coaching access, and visibility opportunities. I work with organizations to design leadership acceleration programs for emerging leaders, senior leaders, and executives. Because the goal is not to simply name high-potential talent. The goal is to prepare them to lead at the next level before the organization urgently needs them there. #MentoringWednesday #LeadershipDevelopment #TalentStrategy #ExecutiveCoaching #TuggleNation