Mentoring: What Most People Get Wrong and How to Do It Right with Claire Diaz-Ortiz

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Erik Fisher: Hello and welcome back to beyond the To Do List, a podcast about productivity. I'm your host Eric Fisher, and this week I am excited to revisit a conversation that I had with Claire Diaz Ortiz. She was one of the very first guests that I ever had and recently I've been thinking a lot about the two way street that is mentoring and it brought this episode back to mind about her book, One Minute Mentoring that she co authored with leadership expert Ken Blanchard. Claire herself is an author, a speaker, an innovation advisor, and an early employee at Twitter. Why this episode keeps coming back to me is current life, personal reasons, but also because we talk about how mentoring is different from coaching, consulting, masterminds, accountability groups, all those things that you've heard of before you've heard of mentoring too. But we often don't know how to find the right mentor, which we talk about in this episode, as well as deciding what type of mentoring relationships you need in whatever season of life you find yourself in. So if you've ever wondered if you're the type of person who should have a mentor or if you have what it takes to be one, this conversation covers both those questions and gives you a clear next step. I know you're gonna love this conversation with Claire Diaz Ortiz.

Erik Fisher: This week it is my privilege to welcome back to the show for the fourth time, Claire Diaz Ortiz. Claire, welcome back to the show.

Claire Diaz-Ortiz: Thank you. Yeah, we Were just discussing pre recording. I was saying I'd been on three times. You were saying I'd been on four times. You were right.

Erik Fisher: And I don't know if I've ever said this, but it was kind of cool. I was like, well, wow, this person's really excited about my show. And I clicked through to your Twitter bio, and I was like, oh, my gosh, she's, like, important or something.

Claire Diaz-Ortiz: Not hardly hardly, but I was excited, man. I was super excited. It was like, what a great title for a podcast. First of all, I saw that, and then I said, oh, my gosh, a whole podcast about productivity. And I don't know, maybe five years ago, there were. There were fewer of them, um, or something, I'm not sure. But at the time, I thought it was.

Erik Fisher: Yes, I know for a fact there were fewer of them. There's still not that many, if you really think about it in terms of

Claire Diaz-Ortiz: how many ones that people actually listen to.

Erik Fisher: Exactly.

Speaker D: So.

Erik Fisher: But you were out there. And as soon as I noticed that you had written stuff about productivity, I said, oh, well, you gotta come on the show. So you did, and then you came back again. Uh, and I think we talked about designing your day, and then I think again after that. Either it was right before or right after. No, the second time was right before you had your first child. That's why I remember, because the first time was really cool. Cause, like, oh, wow, this person knows what they're talking about. Great. Uh, the second time was right before your daughter was born. And the third time was right before your twins were born. M. So that was why I remembered, uh, in hindsight. But this time you've birthed yet another book, and you've done it with someone who's written tons of books. Ken Blanchard.

Erik Fisher: Geez.

Erik Fisher: Come on. And, uh, it's called One Minute Mentoring. And the subtitle, I think every book now is required to have a subtitle, right?

Claire Diaz-Ortiz: I think so, yeah.

Erik Fisher: Because it's like they kick you out anyway. One Minute Mentoring. How to find and work with a mentor and why you'll benefit from being one. And what's cool is you're not just doing a book about this, but you're also, in essence, having a whole summit about that. So let's talk about the summit real quick. And, uh, people have already heard probably the link to go sign up for that in the intro. Let's sell them on that real quick. And then talk about this book.

Claire Diaz-Ortiz: Yeah. So first, you know, we're. The book is coming out on May 2, and then we are hosting the Success mentor summit from May 9 to May 17. The concept is really, you know, do you want a mentor for your own success? I think a lot of people would say yes to that. Raise your hand and say yes. Right. And so if you do want a mentor to help you think about what success is and what success isn't and how to build a sustainable path towards it, then this is a free online summit. It runs for eight days. And basically, I brought together, you know, 45 awesome people, including the likes of Mr. Eric Fisher, to talk about really what success means. And they're talking about it through the lens of mentoring, through the lens of mindset, and ultimately just showing you kind of a glimpse into their lives, how they've built success and how they believe that you can better build a path, um, to your own success, however you might define it.

Erik Fisher: And people listening to this show know that basically, the vibe that I have going on with this is having a virtual coffee with people and letting the listener sit at the table next to us and listen in on the conversation. So they're learning by proxy, and people want more of that from me. I get messages all the time where they're asking questions or if I have time or this or that. I try to do the whole, uh, do for one what you wish you could do for many when it comes to that. And most of us, again, are already sold on this whole idea that having a mentor or even being a mentor is a good thing and that there's benefits for both the mentor and the mentee. What are some of these benefits in terms of a refresher? Because, uh, again, like I said, most people are sold on this, that either side of the relationship is beneficial. But let's talk about some of these benefits.

Claire Diaz-Ortiz: Yeah. So, you know, it's interesting because when I started writing, you know, this book three years ago with Ken Blanchard, I thought I understood the benefits at the time. And it was really only through the process of actually writing this and the process of actually working with him as my mentor, that I came to sort of really get a better, more clear understanding of what mentoring is and what it can do for you. So, I mean, I think we all probably know that a mentor can help guide you in life. Right? I mean, that's probably the Oxford definition is something like a mentor is an experienced, trusted, and advisor. Right. But what does that really mean? And how is it different from other things that are out there? Things like coaching, maybe things like masterminds or consulting or therapy? One of the Things that Ken and I talked about a lot in writing. This is just this idea that being a mentor and being an um, effective mentor is about really being a guide to someone, um, in a holistic way. So as opposed to a coach, you're not focusing on one specific problem that needs to be resolved. You're really focusing on someone's life or maybe someone's work at the same time and really helping to guide them at the same time. A mentor isn't someone who says do this and don't do that, uh, which is really important. And at the same time a mentor really brings their own experience to the table. So of course if you're in therapy or something like that, you're not going to be hearing about um, all your therapist experiences as they opine on some of the directions you could take in life. Right. So mentoring is really an um, effective ah, strategy to kind of level up and seek success. That kind of sits in its own category and I think it really works because of that. And I'll say one of the big things I learned that through the process of writing the book was kind of really about that this idea that a mentoring relationship is really a partnership and that mentoring kind of goes in both directions. Before I had come to write this book with Ken, I had been a mentor and I had been a mentee and both of those experiences had been really positive for me. But I definitely did not fully understand really that mentoring is a partnership. It's not a one way thing, or at least the most effectoring effective mentoring relationships are that way. And so for me, the process of writing and the process of having Ken as my mentor and then realizing that, oh my gosh, he sees me as a mentor in other aspects of life as well was really, really eye opening.

Erik Fisher: See that's very cool to me, one that you're using the word holistic and I was almost thinking, you know, friendship, it was, it was almost like a mutant. I mean we almost, we don't think of friendship being a one way thing. The thing that really differentiated it for me, mentoring from all these other slightly similar but not exactly the same type of relationships like you listed off with, um, let's see, well, coaching specifically or even consulting or uh, masterminds, that those all vary in degree of either the amount of people, the duration of the relationship, or even the specificity of what the relationship is for. Uh, when it comes to, you know, skills or honing in on a, you know, like a specific amount of performance that's, you know, coaching is, is Having somebody coach you and coaching is very much one way. It's not, you know, I don't think, you know, a coach may get something out of the relationship, but it's not, it's more a one way arrow in, in terms of that relationship. Um, and consulting is obviously one way and it's paid. So that one's sure, you know, that, you know, and money entering it always changes relationships, obviously. But, um, I love the fact that you're saying the word holistic because it really is that all of life, it's not just career, it's not just relationships, it's purpose. And uh, you know, the phrase that everybody uses, which is work, life, balance, and all of that wrapped up in one. And again, it's that mutually beneficial. It's both helpful for the mentor and the mentee. And I love the way that you illustrate that in the book, which when I started reading it, because it was a really cool, quick, short read of business fiction.

Claire Diaz-Ortiz: Yeah, I mean, I think that's, it's funny to me. I'd never written essentially a business book as a story. Right. I'd read Ken's books for a long time and they had really impacted me. But when we sort of came to the table and said, okay, how are we going to teach people about mentoring? Um, I was very convicted early on that, you know, what he has done in the past has worked to reach a lot of people and to reach people in, in, in a powerful way, but also a simple way. Right. So I think kind of this idea behind one minute mentoring, and what does that whole one minute thing mean in front of the word mentoring is really this idea that success, uh, doesn't have to be as complicated as you think it is. It's not always just about the hustle and the grind and, and that you can get great insights, um, without having to do too much work or in this case, too much reading.

Erik Fisher: So again, I went into the book with this idea that, oh, I know what mentoring is. And I think what was surprising to me was to gain so much clarity on what it really is. And that even out of, uh, even differentiating mentoring from coaching and masterminds, et cetera, that even in the word mentoring or even in the specific category of mentoring itself, there were different types of mentoring relationships.

Claire Diaz-Ortiz: Absolutely. And that's one of the things that we talked about a lot sort of in crafting this book was this idea of, okay, what type of mentoring relationship do we want to show through this story? But then also what type of mentoring relationships do we want to sort of call out and identify as other potential great ways for people to engage in mentoring. So in, in this story, I think you would, you would most effectively say that it's really a cross generational mentoring relationship. And that's really the, the mentoring relationship that I have with Ken. Right. We come from different generations and yet we are each teaching each other in different ways. Right? A few, a few sort of different types of mentoring relationships just to throw them out there. You know, you've got one that is increasingly more common in, in organizations that are creating mentoring programs, these new hire mentoring partnerships, right? So you're new to a company or maybe even industry, and you come in and you are partnered with someone who, who has been there before. Maybe they are, you know, reaching retirement or maybe, you know, they've got 10 solid years under their belt or whatever it may be, and they sort of help you and guide you into understanding the new company and, and the new industry. Another pretty, um, common one, I guess I would say, at least in our sort of understanding of mentoring is this idea of adult to adolescent. And in the book, you know, we, we talk about the boys and girls of Kind Club, um, it plays a role in the story. And I think that's a pretty typical mentoring, um, model that people have in their minds. This idea that, you know, an adolescent can be paired with an adult who wants to help them, um, to, you know, succeed and study and, you know, think about what they want to be when they grow up. So that's another sort of type of mentoring relationship that is common and successful,

Erik Fisher: this whole idea of generational mentoring. When I heard that, I thought to myself, the differences in generations between, like, say, millennials or Generation X or baby boomers or even, uh, the greatest Generation. And all of, and specifically because my mind is always on this, is the difference between those generations growing up with or without or to what degree. I guess I should say they've had technology in their lives at how early. And I thought to myself, man, it would be really cool to have kind of a mutually beneficial mentoring with an older person where since I'm somewhat tech savvy, I could talk to them about that and help them learn some of the benefits and avoid some of the pitfalls of technology. Meanwhile, glean from them things that I, uh, could learn from them in terms of, like, maybe, I don't know, I'd have to come up with stuff. But you see what I'm saying, I thought that's really cool, my eyes even being opened to that after reading, reading the book were pretty surprising to me.

Claire Diaz-Ortiz: Yeah. And I would say, I mean, first of all, that's awesome that your eyes were open to that. And I would also sort of go a step further and say, I think one of the things that I hope that this book really conveys is that not only should your eyes be open to, oh, wow, I can be a mentor. Um, you know, I don't have to be. I don't have to be some total expert in every field of life in order to be a mentor.

Erik Fisher: Right.

Claire Diaz-Ortiz: I can be a, uh, mentor in a specific area. But more than that, just the idea that. And also by being a mentor, you're going to also gain from it as well. Right. Because I think that that is important. Ultimately, people want to feel fulfilled in partnerships, and I think that mentoring can do that.

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Erik Fisher: I think most people, they understand the benefits that there's benefits both ways. So let's start from what one side of things in terms of someone who realizes, you know what, I could probably use a mentor. How would you suggest they go about trying to find one?

Claire Diaz-Ortiz: Sure. So I think that the first step is, you know, and Ken and I kind of talk about this really early on is this idea of identifying what type of mentoring partnership is best for you. And so we touched on a few of those. There's the new hire one in an organization. There's maybe the cross generational one, which is the one Ken and I have. There's the adult adolescent one, which you see in Big Brothers, Big Sisters or Boys and Girls Clubs. Um, there's the peer to peer one, which is maybe kind of what you're saying of you could potentially be a technology mentor to someone else who could maybe mentor you in a different area. There are all these different types of mentoring partnerships and I think it's important, important to first kind of identify what you think would be most useful to you in this season of life. So I would say that's step one. Once you've identified that, it's about sort of understanding, um, the format and the context in which that can take place. If you're looking for a mentor within an organization, um, that you're already a part of or within an industry, the great first step is to, you know, go to your HR or go to your professional association to see if they already have something in place that could help directly direct you in a programmatic way. If that's not the case, then it's about you sort of on your own trying to find someone. And I'm, you know, a big believer of the idea that, you know, as soon as you kind of open yourself up to the idea of being a mentor or being a mentee, um, you know, the teacher will kind of, the teacher or the student, I should say, will kind of appear. And so I do think that once you kind of express to yourself that you've got this openness, um, to enter into a mentoring partnership, you're going to see potentials around you and you know, it shouldn't be that you, you know, ask everyone around you to be your mentor or your mentee, but you should go through a process of, you know, trying to identify a few people and then going out and asking them. And we talk about in the book how we think it's. It's really important in doing so that you think of the, the kind of the difference of essence and form. It's this idea that, you know, Ken is a big believer of, that you should put essence before form. So, you know, trying to make sure that you can understand the essence of what a relationship with someone might be like. And if you have, you know, shared values and you feel like you have rapport and you feel comfortable talking to them, all that stuff is a lot more important, or at least the most important stuff in the beginning. And only then, if that is in place, can you then move on to form. And form is about, you know, identifying, okay, the structure of, of how this relationship is going to look, how often we're going to meet, uh, how we're going to communicate, what we're going to talk about, what boundaries we're going to put in place. All those types of things come after. But first is that idea of essence and making sure that the relationship is one that you think seems, um, like it will work for you.

Erik Fisher: Yeah. So essence, in other words, is what we are looking for in that mentor as well as what, um, we have to offer, uh, that mentor as a mentee or vice versa. And the form is kind of the frequency and mode of communication as well as, you know, boundaries or goals, etc. Kind of.

Claire Diaz-Ortiz: Right. So with the form, you know, in the book, so the book is a story. And then sort of the second half of the book is, um, a sort of more, ah, nonfiction prescription for how to go about finding a mentor and making a successful mentoring relationship work. And in that we go through kind of a six step, um, process. Six step sort of formula for helping you do that. And, you know, it's just an acronym, Mentor, M E N T O R. And so, you know, the first step, M M is about mission. So you want to come up with a mission statement with your mentor or mentee, um, just to make sure you guys are on the same page. You have a sense of where you're both headed. The next step, E is about engagement. So figuring out how you're going to engage and making a commitment to engaging, you know, whatever regularity you want with your mentoring meetings or, you know, mentoring chats, whatever you want to call Them, uh, make sure that you stick to that. You know, we're gonna, we're gonna meet once a month, we're gonna talk on Skype every three weeks. You know, whatever it may be, make it, make it something regular. Um, then you've got me. M. Then n is networking. And I think this is really important because, you know, this idea that cultivating productive relationships is, is really critical, is essential when it comes to mentoring because oftentimes, you know, one of the first reasons that people want specifically is they want someone who can help them connect with others, to help them kind of, you know, level up in what area of life they're. They're interested in sort of further success in. And so it's important when you think about networking that what you're going to be doing is you're going to be having the opportunity to be introduced to, you know, people in the network of your mentor, mentee. And you've got to really, really tread carefully and make sure that you are, you know, proceeding, um, with caution and with care and, you know, taking care of those relations. Because your mentor, your mentee has built those relationships over time and by a function of being close with you, they're sort of opening up the kimono. So you've got to make sure that, um, you're taking care with that. And so that's when we get to ment. Trust is. It's all about this idea that building trust in a relationship takes time. Um, in one minute mentoring, we share a story where we think this idea of sort of opening up your network can sometimes happen too soon in a mentoring relationship. Right? You can, um, get a little too close too fast and there can sometimes be, um, you know, not so great results to that. So building up trust is something that needs to happen and it probably needs to happen over time. Um, then you've got, you know, opportunity. You've got to think about why mentoring relationships bring with them great opportunities and how to best take advantage of those opportunities while still honoring the mentoring relationship. And then finally, sort of the sixth step in our kind of mentor formula is this idea of review and renewal. So in your mentoring partnership, you've got to make sure that you take the time to review and make sure you're on the same page and make sure that things are proceeding, that it's either time for you to sort of put the mentoring partnership on the back burner or it's time to renew and keep going forward. So that's sort of the six step process we take folks through. Um, in the book, and I think it's a good structure for thinking about how mentoring can best impact your life.

Erik Fisher: So can I share that? When I first read that we should be creating a mission statement for a mentoring relationship, I thought to myself, oh, gosh, some people are going to have a problem with that, because why would I want to write a mission statement about a relationship?

Claire Diaz-Ortiz: I know? Well, you know, I'm, uh, I'm a pretty intentional gal. So I think for me, I really love the idea of doing that more in life. You know, I'm such a fan of. You know, when you see on Instagram, there are people who have, like, mission, um, statements for their families, or they have those, you know, powerful words for the families, and they have them, like, on cool posters in their kitchen. And I'm always like, oh, man, Jose, we need to do that. So I'm a total fan of this idea of mission statements, but I understand, and I've heard that sometimes folks can feel kind of overwhelmed and kind of nervous about what that means. But, you know, honestly, it's not hard, it's not scary, and it's not too formal, but it is just about making sure that you both have kind of a similar goal in mind for the mentoring partnership. And I think just to give kind of an example of sort of the downsides of not doing that, you know, I've talked to lots of folks who've had mentors over the years, and I think one of the things I've seen again and again is that sometimes people, as mentees especially, aren't able to really achieve everything they want or gain everything they'd hoped out of a mentoring relationship. Because sometimes the mentor doesn't even really understand that they are mentoring the other person. Right. Because mentoring in reality can happen in all kinds of different ways. You can read a book and, you know, feel that you are getting mentoring through the page, right? You can have. You, um, could be listening to someone on stage, give a speech, and you can feel like, wow, I'm really feeling mentored by that message. But ultimately, the type of mentoring that I think that can be most effective long term is this real mentoring partnership. And to do that, you know, the mentor really has to be on board. And so I think making sure that you come up with, you know, a simple mission statement is a great first step in assuring that you both are really committing to something.

Erik Fisher: Well, I think you hit it on the head there with the word partnership. Because when I thought about what other kind of relationships do we have kind of an official written or at least verbal statement of, you know, the purpose of the relationship. I immediately went to, you know, membership in certain groups or specifically. When you, when, when you think about it, what are some of the most important relationships we have? Like having vows for a marriage. You know what I mean? It just makes sense that, in other words, both people know why you're meeting and what the purpose is and what the nature of the relationship is and that you're. That you're stating out, stating it, uh, you know, out loud and to each other so that you can move forward.

Claire Diaz-Ortiz: Absolutely, absolutely. And I think making that statement is really important and it's something that's really, really easy not to do. And, um, it's only sort of after the fact that you realize, wow, how much more could I have gotten out of, you know, that mentoring relationship in the case of mentoring, had I identified what are what our goals and what our sort of plan was?

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Erik Fisher: Start your free trial@shopify.com I know that it's going to be different for each mentoring relationship, but what kind of guidelines would you give in terms of people thinking, oh, my gosh, is it going to take up all my time and you know, how frequently or how often and in what ways with what modes of communication, with like text or phone or email, meeting in person, like, what kind of guidelines would you say in terms of starting off but then also maintaining a, uh, healthy mentoring relationship throughout the duration?

Claire Diaz-Ortiz: So I think the big thing is regularity of communication. And I do think that this can really be different for different people. But, you know, for me, I think starting out, thinking about communicating once every week or once every two weeks is a great idea. And by communicating, I don't necessarily mean just like a simple text, but I mean having Some type of conversation, whether that's virtual or in person, to really get into, you know, the nitty gritty of what you're there to be a, uh, mentor or mentee to the other about. Does that make sense? Because it's really in the beginning of a relationship that you kind of set the stage for everything that's gonna come later. And it's in the beginning that you need to really get to know each other as much as possible within the boundaries of a mentoring partnership. So I would say regularity is really important. And I think in terms of modes of communication, I do think that is really particular to different people. Um, and so you've gotta see what really work works best for you. And I think this comes back to sort of this generational thing that you mentioned earlier. If you're a millennial or if you're a boomer or whatever it may be. Ken has this funny story that Ken's really big on phone calls, right? He loves just calling people out of the blue and expecting people to pick up. And his wife said to him one time, ken, has it ever occurred to you that sometimes people just don't want to talk to you on the phone? And he's like, no, honestly, no. And I find it hysterical because I'm not a phone person. I'm a texter. I'm an emailer. And so I think having some of those conversations up front can help you to feel better connected and better engaged as time moves forward, and to definitely,

Erik Fisher: maybe keep it in mind, uh, for example, with Ken's wife saying to him, have you thought about this? That he would then start to consider that and be accommodating, Right?

Claire Diaz-Ortiz: Absolutely. And, I mean, you've both got to be accommodating. You've both got to understand that different people have different personality types, and. And this is the way that X person can best communicate. But over time, sort of being accommodating to one another and, you know, thinking about the ways that you can cater to one another while still honoring your own essence is really important.

Erik Fisher: And I think you guys do a great job of illustrating this in the story in the book between the mentor and the mentee, that depending upon the urgency maybe of the situation or the, uh, request for guidance or advice or whatever you want to call it, that it could be a text or it could be a phone call or it could be a, ah, face to face, or it even could be an email. So that key piece being here is that between the two of them, they had decided what of all Those methods and of what urgency uh, was the, you know, what protocol was okay?

Claire Diaz-Ortiz: Absolutely, absolutely.

Erik Fisher: I hadn't even thought about that before I was reading that in the story and I just realized like, wow, that's really cool. Like a lot of people don't even have that type of communication rubric thought out just for day to day life, let alone business or you know, networking relationships. So. Mhm, I really like that. Again, going back to what we were originally talking about, when it comes to why we do this, there's going to be advice and guidance given and what are some of the ways that we can best ask for that advice as well as receive that advice and apply it?

Claire Diaz-Ortiz: Well, I think, you know, when you are hopefully, you know, if you're thinking that you want a mentor, um, particularly if you're thinking if you want to mentor, but also if you're thinking you want to, you know, you want a mentee, you probably are more open to receiving advice than maybe sort of, you know, the average Joe or the average Claire or the average Eric walking down the street. That being said, I do think it's important when you enter into a mentoring partnership that you really realize that, hey, you're not always going to hear stuff you love. It's your job here in, in the process of learning and growing to try to open your mind and be accepting of, of what you hear. And that doesn't mean you have to do everything your mentor suggests by any means. But you know, it does mean that, you know, you're here to learn. So try to try to think about things you haven't thought about before and try to change the way you think ideas. And that's, that's where you'll see kind of the most impact.

Erik Fisher: I think one of the things you guys really show in a cool way is the place for introspection when it comes to receiving and even giving the engagement back and forth when it comes to mentoring relationships. Because when I was reading that and I, you know, the two instances where the mentor and the mentee have both realized something about the advice given or not given, and then uh, they have to internalize it and sit with it and even take some time to really be introspective about it, I really did think about your book Design youn Day as well as the present principle and the role that those play in this whole mentoring relationship. Because if you're going to really get something out of, of getting or giving in a mentoring relationship, you're really going to have to be willing to sit with some stuff and internalize it and dig it. Or well, not dig it, but dig into it a bit more, uh, inside yourself.

Erik Fisher: Mhm.

Claire Diaz-Ortiz: I, mhm. Absolutely agree with that. And I think that luckily, as I say, a lot of people who are looking for a mentor or a mentee are probably more open to doing that work. Um, but even so, you've got to be aware that, you know, um, it is some work and it is some effort.

Erik Fisher: Yeah. I mean it can be some soul searching. I mean especially if the mentor does know you, ah, in conversation with you and says some things that maybe, well, have you thought about this? And you're like, well, you know, you sit with it and you think this person, you know, you chose them as a mentor for a reason. They have earned your trust and they are trusting you, they're giving you guidance and it's worth your time and their time for that matter to consider it what it is they're saying and to really see if that can have an impact based, you uh, know, against who you are and who you want to be. Because obviously that's part of why you're meeting with them anyway, so.

Claire Diaz-Ortiz: Absolutely, absolutely.

Erik Fisher: Yeah. So what are some of the other ways maybe dipping our feet in on being more open to being mentored as well as mentoring if somebody, you know, I'm not. So, uh, maybe I've done it in the past, but I haven't done in a long time. I just don't know if it's right for me in this season. How do we get people to maybe have a quick win with a mentoring, you know, a very, very short term mentoring opportunity, you know.

Claire Diaz-Ortiz: Yeah, I mean, I think that, you know, Ken talks about this idea of mentoring moments and I think this is something that has really kind of impacted me and the way I think about mentoring. You know, as I mention earlier, mentoring can happen in different ways. Mentoring can happen in a book or you watching a video. These are all sort of small mentoring moments and things that can teach you things. Many of us have, you know, people we sit next to on planes that provide us uh, some small piece of insight that changes the way we think about something. So mentoring can happen in all different ways. And this book, um, provides sort of a framework for how a, how the most successful we believe mentoring partnership can take place. Right. But that type of partnership is a more long term partnership. If you're looking to just get a sense of what mentoring can do for you, I would say, you know, think of the number one topic or one or two topics in your head right now. That you're really kind of wrestling with and go on Google and find a TED talk about that topic and just watch it and just have an experience of learning and maybe you'll have a mentoring moment, right? Or you could do the same thing with, with reading a book on a topic you're really interested in or feel like you are wrestling with in some way. And I think that's just a great way to show you, hey, this is how, this is how mentoring can be effective. And then let's see how you can take sort of that small mentoring moment and then transition it into, hey, maybe I want to look for a mentor that might be able to really help me think about my life holistically at the same time.

Erik Fisher: Well, in two other instances I can think of that I think would really help people. And this is so obvious to me is one podcast like this one, as well as your summit that's coming up where there's what, 45 plus speakers or so all talking about mentoring and success and much more than that. I think that that makes a lot of sense. I mean, this whole mentoring by proxy, in a weird way, I don't know if that's really a term, but I think that that's, you know, that's the world we live in these days. And I think, I do think that that's what makes, makes it so special or more poignant, I guess, when people can meet face to face or have non, uh, you know, consumptive type mentoring relationships where it's no me just reading their book or me just listening to their show, or me just, you know, consuming or listening or absorbing their stuff, but having it be a two way thing. But not everybody can find that that easily. But hopefully again, wherever you are locally, that that's an option. But m. It's not your only option is, I guess, what I'm trying to get at here.

Claire Diaz-Ortiz: Agreed. Agreed.

Erik Fisher: So. Well, Claire, it has been awesome to have you back on the show again. Again, everybody needs to go sign up for the summit and I'll have the link to that, uh, after I close out this conversation with you. But again, the book, One Minute Mentoring, it comes out today, May 2nd, and it's by you and Ken Blanchard and everybody should go grab Habit. Uh, I'll put a link in the show notes as well. Claire, thank you so much for being here for the fourth time.

Claire Diaz-Ortiz: Yeah, thank you. It's been really fun. Eric.

Erik Fisher: Well, that's another podcast crossed off your listening to do list. I hope that you're walking away from this conversation with Claire Diaz Ortiz having a clearer picture of the mentor that you want to be or the mentor that you need right now, now in your life. If you found this podcast helpful, and I hope you did, please do me the favor of sharing it with somebody you know needs to hear it. Hit that share button in your podcast player app of choice or go to the Show Notes at Beyond the to do list.com thank you so much for sharing. Thanks again for listening and I'll see you next episode.

Erik Fisher: Sam.

Claire Diaz-Ortiz: Foreign

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