Our second guest is Christina Falzano, ex-Managing Director at Wolff Olins and Superunion and an overall amazing mentor, leader and inspiring creative soul. She has talked about what mentor-mentee relationship can do for you as a leader and for your career in general. Check out the main highlights from the session we've written down for you and watch the full recording on our Youtube Channel.
When looking for mentor or mentee seek out a person who has a similar energy, but knows something you want to know, has the experiences you don’t have, and a different perspective, cultural background or point of view.
🟡 Select somebody you like but who is not necessarily like you. Don’t look for a mini-me
🟡 Make sure the relationship works both ways. Both should provide value.
🟡 Don’t ask someone to be your mentor straight away — it can be overwhelming. Make a connection first, express admiration and ask for their perspective or advice on a certain challenge you're facing. And build on that.
🟡 The mentor-mentee relationship needs a structure: depending on who’s asking for guidance either a mentor or mentee (usually a mentee) needs to be as clear, prepared and direct as possible. Schedule sessions, prepare questions, goals and what you want from this relationship.
Work-based community outside of your current job can help you be up to date with the industry and support you in the time of uncertainty. Here is the guidance on how to build it:
🟡 Seek people in other departments / build connections while taking courses
🟡 Find people that are like-minded with similar goals and interests
🟡 With time mentor/mentee relationship can also become a peer-to-peer work-based relationship
🟡 When you find someone you think you can benefit from, don't hesitate to ask for advice/information/contacts as well as be ready to share those yourself
🟡 Stay connected on socials and IRL
It is widely known that the content we consume is filtered based on the things we like. To bring value to your mentees and to be a better leader and creative in general it is crucial to break through the information bubble. Here are some tips on how, according to Christina, you can do that:
🟡 Consume content (at least 25%) that is not served to you by an algorithm like Netflix recommendations or Spotify playlists.
🟡 Subscribe to a newspaper or podcast that you think is too high brow for you and too low brow – you'll learn a lot from it.
🟡 Visit an event that is absolutely not you and keep an open mind.
🟡 Follow 10 people that are as different from you as possible.
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