Your Next Clear Move

Mentoring Mythbusters: What Leaders Get Wrong (and How to Get it Right)

• Debbie Peterson of Getting to Clarity

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Think mentoring has to be formal, long-term, and led by someone older in your chain of command? Let’s rewrite that script. We take apart the most stubborn mentoring myths and show how short, targeted conversations with the right people—often peers or folks outside your team—can unlock clarity, confidence, and faster progress at work.

We start with a story: learning company financials from a CPA who was eight years younger and in another department. That experience reframed mentoring as a practical exchange focused on a clear goal, not a title. From there, we map four principles of a mentoring mindset—Responsibility, Accountability, Community, Engagement—that help you define what you need, find the right guides, and turn advice into action. Along the way, we broaden the lens beyond career ladders to real-world wins like running tighter meetings, protecting deep work, navigating change, and making better decisions under pressure.

You’ll hear simple tools you can use immediately: five-minute “mentoring moments” inside team huddles, peer circles that spread know-how, and short, situational mentoring to solve specific challenges without contracts or complexity. We close with a quick exercise to flip a myth you’ve carried and choose one mentoring move you’ll try this month, plus a step-by-step way to reach out—identify who does it well, ask for a brief conversation, prepare focused questions, apply what you learn, and report back. One conversation can shift your trajectory. Subscribe, share this with a colleague who needs a nudge, and leave a review to tell us which myth you’re flipping next.

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Hey, hello, and welcome back. I am Debbie Peterson of Getting to Clarity, and this is another episode of the Getting to Clarity Podcast. And today we are talking about mentoring and specifically mentoring mythbusters. So, what you may be getting wrong about it and how you can get it right. So stay tuned.

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Welcome to the Getting to Clarity Podcast.

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The place where busy leaders discover how to create more success in their leadership journey with less sacrifice in their life.

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Here's your host, Debbie Peterson of Getting to Clarity.

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So, what does this mean? What are we talking about today? Well, when most people hear the word mentoring, there's a few myths that instantly come to mind. They think that a mentor has to be older, that the mentor has to be your boss, that the mentor has to be from inside your company, and likely it's a long-term, time-consuming relationship, and none of these are true. So these myths, I call them mentoring myths, they keep leaders and emerging professionals from seeing the opportunities that are right in front of them to grow and to grow easier in their career, their leadership, their business, maybe even their life. And I'd love to bust some of the biggest myths that I hear from my audiences and show you simple and powerful ways that you can incorporate mentoring into your work. So myth number one that the mentor has to be older. So the truth. So here's my story: is that I once worked for a publicly traded company in the investor relations department. And I loved the work. I loved the relationships and the people. Everything I did surrounded and supported the financials. But I didn't have an accounting degree. I did not understand the financials of the company. So understanding them was a struggle for me, but it was something that would definitely benefit me in my career. So I had a colleague. She's a CPA. She became my mentor. She was eight years younger than me in a different department, but she helped me to understand the numbers in a way that I could use. And this is how we did it. I would fly and buy, which meant that I would drive to lunch and I would pay for lunch and bring the financials. And then she would walk me through them, allow me to ask questions until I got it. That was mentoring. It wasn't about age or hierarchy, it was about being willing to learn and ask for help. Mentoring myth number two: a mentor has to be your boss. Well, mentoring isn't about reporting lines. That's the truth there. Your boss can certainly be a mentor, but so can a peer, a friend, or somebody in a completely different field. What matters is finding someone who can share the insight that you need. That's the goal. Mentoring myth number three: mentoring has to be long term. Well, the truth is, no, it doesn't. Mentoring doesn't have to last years. It can be a season, a project, or even a single conversation that shifts your perspective. Some of the best mentoring I have ever received has been short-term and situational. Mentoring myth number four, mentoring is only about career trajectory. No, mentoring isn't limited to climbing the ladder. It can be about skills, it can be about confidence, managing time, navigating change, making better decisions. You know, one of my clients used mentoring to learn how to run better meetings. Another used it to improve work-life integration. So I want to chat with you a bit about the mentoring mindset. So if these myths aren't true, then what does mentoring really look like? I'm so glad you asked because I teach it through a keynote I do called the mentoring mindset. And there are four simple principles that make the mentoring effective. And here they are. Ready? Grab a pen. The first of which is responsibility. Get clear on what you want to learn and take ownership of your growth. Second, accountability. Create a plan for doing this and hold yourself to it. Mentoring works when you show up prepared. Three, community. Leverage the people around you. Leverage the people that you know, leverage the people that they know. Mentors don't have to be one person, they can also be a network. Four, engagement. Be proactive. Keep the relationship going by applying what you learn, staying connected, having that conversation. And here's why all of this is important because if you cling to mentoring myths, you miss opportunities. And I want more than that for you. So you make the path harder than it has to be when you are clinging to these myths. Mentors help you to see that you are ready. You are already ready. They give you confidence by lending their wisdom, their perspective, and their encouragement. And when you embrace mentoring in its many forms, like we've discussed, you realize how easy it can be to access support. It doesn't have to be formal, it just has to be real for you. Now, maybe you need some tools, ideas to try. So here are some things you can consider. Encourage mentoring moments in your team. A five-minute share can be mentoring. Try group mentoring or peer mentoring where colleagues are teaching other colleagues. That helps to build confidence and it also spreads the knowledge. A rising tide lifts all boats. Make mentoring informal and accessible. You don't need forms, contracts, or complicated structures to make it work. Just find an easy way to do it. So, how can you apply this and get going? If you are mid-career, maybe you're feeling stuck. Mentoring is one of the fastest ways to get unstuck. So identify just one area where you want to grow in your current role. Maybe it's a skill, up-leveling, maybe it's a certification, maybe it's a specific challenge that you have. Then ask yourself, who already does this well? Who could you learn from? Reach out and ask for a conversation. Keep it really simple. And what about using this with your team? You can uh make mentoring commonplace by inviting your team to share what's working for them. Celebrate those shares. When people see that mentoring can be really easy, it can be as simple as swapping strategies, then they're more likely to step up and help each other. They're more likely to utilize mentoring. And this creates a ripple effect of confidence and clarity that goes all across your team. Now, here's an exercise to try: a myth to move exercise. Write down one mentoring myth that you've believed and then flip it. What's the truth that you see now as a result of what we've had a conversation with? Well, actually, it's a monologue because you're not talking with me, but I'd love to hear from you. And then identify one mentoring shift that you'll try this month, whether that's reaching out to a peer, offering to mentor someone else, or asking for a mentoring moment. So, what's your next clear move? Mentoring does not have to be complicated. One conversation, one shift in perspective. It can change the trajectory of your leadership. So here's your next clear move. Take one myth you've been carrying, flip it, and try one of the mentoring shifts that you've learned here this month. And a personal note. Hey, it just dawned on me this morning. I have been writing articles and blogs for nine years, and I'd really love to hear from you. What would you like me to write about next? I value you. I want to support you. So hit reply, leave me a comment, send me an email at Debbie at Debbie Petersonspeaks.com and let me know. Meanwhile, be good to yourself, and bye-bye for now.

SPEAKER_02:

Thank you for listening to this episode of the Getting to Clarity Podcast with Debbie Peterson.

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If you enjoyed this show, please rate and recommend it on iTunes or wherever you enjoy your podcast.

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To learn more about how you can bring Debbie and her transformational clarity leadership strategies to your organization, visit Debbie PetersonSpeaks.com.

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Debbie Peterson, CSP

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