Andrea Rice is the President and co-founder of Gotta Mentor. This social networking platform is different from other web 2.0 sites because it specialises in career mentoring for students and professionals. Members don’t focus on popularity, but rather on offering and/or seeking good advice.
You can view Andrea’s profile at Gotta Mentor here.
She kindly agreed to answer questions about mentoring (of course!) and business advice. Read her tips below:
- Your site specializes in connecting people who need mentors to those who want to guide them. How can these lessons teach entrepreneurs to avoid the pitfalls of the business world?
Entrepreneurs wear many hats, often requiring them to make decisions in areas where they have little or no expertise. Good mentors can help you avoid mistakes and provide critical expertise in your weak areas.
- What was the worst piece of business advice you’ve ever received? What were the consequences if you followed it? If you didn’t follow it, what made you realise you shouldn’t take it?
Here are two examples from different stages of my career:
Example 1. After business school, I was working for an investment bank. After several years I was recruited by another bank which made a offer considerably higher than my current compensation. The firm was very appealing to me on all of the key variables outside of compensation. One of my friends, a fellow business school graduate, encouraged me to accept the offer as given. Another friend, however, advised me to negotiate, and helped me realize that among investment banks, the initial offer is just a starting point. With his counsel, I researched the range of compensation packages at my level at other firms, took my time to negotiate, and eventually hired an employment attorney to review the offer letter. The end result was an employment contract that guaranteed tens of thousands of dollars more in compensation and offered stronger employment protection.
This experience served me well in later job changes. It taught me that looking at the offer compared to my current compensation wasn’t relevant. It didn’t matter that the bank’s initial offer was a lot higher than what I was currently making. What mattered was what was reasonable for that position for someone with my experience. As it turned out, that number was quite a bit higher. That experience also highlighted the importance of negotiating when you’re being offered the job, when your leverage is the greatest.
Example 2. As a sophomore in college, I interviewed for an internship on Wall Street. My parents were a social worker and a doctor, and didn’t have a lot of exposure to business executives. I asked them what I should wear to the interview, and my mom told me to wear a dress that I would wear to church. Investment bankers don’t wear church dresses to work. Thankfully I also asked a friend who had worked on Wall Street the previous summer what was appropriate, and got a very different answer.
I learned a few valuable lessons. 1) Be smart about who you ask for advice; and 2) When in doubt, and even if you’re not in doubt, get multiple opinions.
- How can anyone detect the differences between a good mentor/advisor and a not so good one?
If you’re looking for career advice, the best mentor is someone who has relevant experience, takes time to understand your background and goals, and provides specific, actionable advice. If your mentor lacks one of these three attributes, the chances of getting bad advice increase.
Having all three traits present in a mentor does not guarantee great advice. The best hedge against bad advice from a single mentor, is to engage multiple mentors. In a digital world, it is just as easy to ask one person a question as it is to ask three or more people. Having more than one mentor also gives you the opportunity to get multiple perspectives, and to ask mentors to comment on the suggestions of your other mentors.
Many thanks to Andrea for the detailed answers! And thank you Gina for making this interview possible!
