Mentors

Founded by Leonid Boguslavsky and H-FARM

← The manifesto06 / 12 · In every conversation

06

Say “I don't know”.

If it's outside your expertise, say so, and point the Fellow to someone who knows.

No one is an expert in everything, and Fellows don't expect you to be. What they need is to trust that when you speak with confidence, it's earned. Every time you bluff on a topic outside your expertise, you spend that trust.

“I don't know” is one of the most useful things a mentor can say. It saves the founder from acting on a guess, and it opens the next question: who does know? That's where your network and the nAItive mentor pool come in.

Fellows reach mentors for specific vertical expertise. Stay in your lane where it matters, be generous with general judgement where it helps, and be explicit about which one you're offering.

All principles

  1. 01Keep the founder in the driver's seat
  2. 02Build capability, not dependency
  3. 03Be direct
  4. 04Ask for evidence, not opinions
  5. 05Separate fact, experience and hypothesis
  6. 06Say “I don't know”
  7. 07End with a next step
  8. 08Show up prepared
  9. 09Be responsive and follow through
  10. 10Open doors
  11. 11Keep it confidential. Declare conflicts
  12. 12Earn your place in the pool