How do I find a management mentor outside my company?
Leaders in niche industries often get trapped in a bubble without peers to compare notes with or learn unwritten best practices from. Without external mentors or professional networks, it becomes difficult to bridge the gap in confidence, presence, and leadership knowledge compared to larger organizations.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1trying to self-teach through observationDid this help you?
- 2reaching out to online peers for direct adviceDid this help you?
- 3Hiring a paid professional coachDid this help you?
- 4Searching on Google or looking through online forumsDid this help you?
- 5Joining local professional association chapters and participating in their mentorship programsDid this help you?
- 6Asking a targeted, specific question for a brief 20-minute call instead of asking for open-ended mentorship.Did this help you?
- 7Paying a fractional CFO or independent accountant for a single hour of consultation to sanity-check operations.Did this help you?
- 8Joining local accelerators, growth hubs, or enterprise trusts that include assigned mentorship hours.Did this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I’ve started my first business (fintech) with some other seasoned Entrepreneurs. I have a few questions about what is normal and what isn’t in regard to operations and finance but don’t know anyone personally who has experience.”source ↗
“Something that worked for me as a dad running a small company with no business background: I stopped looking for a mentor and looked for someone who had done one specific thing I was stuck on.”source ↗
“Would really love to get into contact with another professional who is experienced and willing to provide feedback, guidance, or just bounce ideas off of.”source ↗
“I sometimes run into some issues it would be nice to ask a human instead of just looking at forums or google searching an answer to.”source ↗
“I'm looking to broaden my horizons as a leader, as well as seek out a peer group or mentor to see what other organizations are doing outside of my bubble. Any ideas on where to start looking?”source ↗
“Our availability didn't match great: he was only available one day per week, which was a challenging day for me to make work due to my full time job.”source ↗
“I asked to be reassigned to someone else and they finally reached out to me today, but their profile says they only do in person meetings and they are physically located an hour from me and their availability is only during my work hours.”source ↗
“Also, any appointments mentioned that I could potentially commit to were 4-6 weeks away.”source ↗
“I can tell there is a disconnect between where I am now and where someone at Big 4 would be, confidence, presence, and knowledge wise.”source ↗
“I don’t have any friends in this space. How do I “get myself up to speed” on the things that are between the lines? Are there any events or programs I can join that would pair me with a mentor?”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 2Why do coworkers just say "it just works like that"?
- 5What to do when your plumbing foreman is a terrible teacher
- 3How to finish a college degree and get a CPA without a mentor
- 2Are expensive business mentorship programs actually worth it?
- 5Job applications requiring past supervisor references
- 2What skills do you need to move into HR leadership?