I’m on a trip to my homeland.. and every trip to India means a lot of people reaching out to me to connect, seek guidance, chit chat and then sometimes to talk without any reason.. that’s us Indians!

So far this trip has been uniquely busy. I have been here for 2 weeks and I’ve had over 60 1:1’s and the theme of most of them has been to seek career mentor ship. Some of the underlying themes of most of these stay the same.. fear of failure, impostor syndrome, how to deal with poorly delivered or not well thought through feedback. The interesting thing I have noticed over the years is that more and more people fall into this bucket as they spend more time in their role or in the Organization. The same people were super confident when they started and then the pressures that we build upon ourselves of expectations bears its burden and yes, millennials seem to have no problems so far the category of insecurities.. what a confident generation.

Most times in such meetings, the need is for us to hear, sometimes extend a supportive ear and sometimes our hands and hearts to provide the sense of security for the person to bare their soul. Vulnerability doesn’t come easily but at the heart of vulnerability lie the answers. We all usually know what to do, how to handle what we are going through and 9 out of 10 time, we are just looking for someone to say I understand and I’ve got your back.

For the one time where you as a mentor and have to provide pointed guidance, I usually also provide supporting documentation by way of books, articles or you tube videos) so it isn’t limited to being a discourse but also backed by real world data, stats or other shared experiences.

I am very lucky to be in a situation where folks not only think of me as a mentor but also extend a ton of love and support to me in my role as a leader and as a friend and never shy away from telling me when I am sounding like a condescending idiot.

To those folks and to the ones who are going to become them in a few years.. I’ve got your back.

Till later!

Related: The Actual End Game: Career Advice Nobody Puts on a Panel