About – Mentorvention

Let’s meet…
YOU!

This website has a lot to say about mentoring. But ultimately, Mentorvention is about you.

Maybe you’re trying to grow in your career, become more confident in your leadership, navigate a transition, or figure out what comes next.

Maybe you’re responsible for helping other people grow… and wondering how to create relationships that are more meaningful than simply matching two people and hoping something happens.

there’s a question worth asking:

Whose perspective is missing?

Most of us have people we turn to when we need advice. But the people we know best often see the world much as we do.

What might change if you intentionally sought out…

Someone from another industry?
Someone nearby whom you’ve overlooked?
Someone inside your organization?
Someone whose experiences, like yours, seem underrepresented in your world?
Someone who has recently walked your path?
Or someone who simply sees your situation with greater empathy?

Mentoring doesn’t have to mean finding one perfect mentor.

It can mean learning to recognize the people around you, and discovering whose perspective you need next.

That’s what Mentorvention is about.

If these questions have you thinking about your team, your organization, or yourself differently, let’s talk.

Rethinking Mentoring: My Mentoring Philosophy

For years, we’ve been taught to think about mentoring in much the same way:

Find the right mentor. Build the relationship. Learn from that person.

I think mentoring can be much bigger than that.

No single person can provide every perspective, experience, connection, challenge, or kind of support we need throughout our lives and careers. And some of the people who could help us most may never carry the title “mentor.”

That’s the thinking behind Mentorvention.

Mentors are all around us.

A mentor doesn’t always arrive through a formal program or an introduction. Sometimes it’s a colleague, a teacher, a boss, a peer, someone from another field…or someone whose life experience is very different from our own.

The opportunity is learning to recognize them. Different people provide different perspectives.

Instead of searching for one ideal mentor, we can build a constellation of developmental relationships.

One person may challenge our thinking. Another may understand how our industry works. Another may open a door we cannot open ourselves…or a door we didn’t’ even see. Another may see something in us that we haven’t yet learned to see ourselves.

The question isn’t simply: “Who should be my mentor?”

It’s: “Whose perspective is missing?”

Mentees have agency.

Mentoring shouldn’t be something that happens to us.

We can learn to identify what we need, seek perspectives beyond the ones we already have, build meaningful developmental relationships, and eventually become that source of perspective for someone else.

Our stories matter.

We don’t enter mentoring relationships as blank slates.

We bring experiences, successes, failures, transitions, relationships, and people who have shaped us. Understanding those experiences helps us understand what we have to offer and what we may still need from others.

That’s why Mentorvention isn’t simply about finding mentors.

It’s about learning to see mentoring differently: as something we can recognize, build, diversify, and ultimately provide for others.

Meet Dave

Who I work with

Mentoring happens everywhere, not just inside formal mentoring programs. I work with individuals and organizations that want to make those relationships more intentional, more meaningful, and more useful.

Organizations

I work with companies, professional associations, universities, and other organizations that want to help their people gain perspective and grow through stronger mentoring relationships.

That might mean creating a mentoring initiative, strengthening an existing program, or helping people think beyond the traditional one-mentor/one-mentee model.

The goal isn’t simply to create more matches. It’s to help people build the relationships and perspectives they need to grow.

Mentors & Mentees

Good mentoring requires more than putting two people together.

I help mentors become more intentional about how they support others and help mentees take greater ownership of their own development by recognizing that no single mentor can provide everything they need.

Instead of asking yourself or someone else “Who should be my mentor?” I encourage a different question:

“Whose perspective is missing?”

Leaders & Professionals

You don’t need to be part of a mentoring program to benefit from mentoring.

I work with professionals navigating growth, transition, leadership, or simply the question of what comes next.

Together, we explore the relationships already around them, the perspectives they may be missing, and the experiences that have shaped who they are and how they lead.Sometimes the best place to start is simply a conversation.
Whether you’re thinking about mentoring for yourself, your team, or your organization, I’d welcome the opportunity to hear what you’re working toward and explore whether Mentorvention might be useful.

No pitch. No obligation. Just a conversation about where you are, where you’d like to go, and whose perspective might help you get there.