When Robby shares this experience during interviews, she sounds like she is in perpetual disbelief at her luck. As if she randomly won the lottery rather than intentionally attracted mentoring.

Who is John Mulaney? A comedian, actor, writer, director, and producer who sat in the audience at Robby’s show and recognized her potential.

“I don’t know what he saw, but he was sent to me out of thin air to help me. He threw his weight behind me.” 

John handled all of the production, from staging to lighting to directing. In return, Robby showed up, pledging to deliver her greatest hour of standup. “I knew that I was not going to let him down. He didn’t let me down.”

The 2025 Netflix show “Robby Hoffman: Wake Up” marked a catapult for Robby’s career.

Angela Duckworth, author of the new book Situated: Find the People and Places That Bring Out Your Best, would dub Robby a “mentor magnet,” someone who proactively attracts Mentors.

How can we become a mentor magnet like Robby? Angela postulates that we can attract Mentors by spotting helpful people and responding with eagerness and curiosity.

Arguably, however, Robby’s mentor magnetism started long before Robby spotted John’s helpfulness in his text. She sparked his desire to help by:

• bravely showcasing her talent
• demonstrating a commitment to stretch and grow
• cultivating a solid reputation, a good work ethic, and integrity
• exhibiting humility

John would never have reached out to Robby to offer help if he hadn’t observed her commitment, if she had an antagonistic reputation, or if she was obnoxiously overconfident. That person repels Mentors.

Robby’s enthusiastic response to John’s text validated his offer and emboldened him to do more than is necessary.

When you notice someone unexpectedly eager to be helpful, respond with:

• willingness to receive their help
• genuine curiosity to learn from them
• initiative and action
• gratitude

You will attract more helpfulness.

As Robby discovered and Angela bottom-lined it in Situated, “Opportunities come easier when your situation includes Mentors.”

But first, to attract those Mentors, be someone who others want to mentor.

© 2026. Ann Tardy and MentorLead. www.mentorlead.com. All Rights Reserved.

As Tony Spring recalled on the How Leaders Learn podcast, he replied, “Why would I move? I have the best job.”

Then Mike countered, “You have the opportunity to do more in the organization. But you need to understand enterprise thinking, all the facets that ultimately drive our business and attract our customers.”

Mike’s mentoring nudged Tony out of his comfort zone.

• Tony moved from marketing to operations and ran Bloomingdale’s stores for three years.
• In 2008, he became President and COO of Bloomingdale’s.
• In 2014, he was promoted to Bloomingdale’s CEO when Mike retired.
• In 2024, Tony was promoted to CEO of Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s parent company.

Tony reflected on Mike’s mentoring, “Mike Gould encouraged me to use my intellectual curiosity, to show my heart, to be present with my family. And he gave me the learnings that he had in his own life. He wanted to make sure that I benefited from those experiences.”

While Mike was not officially assigned to be Tony’s mentor, he saw potential in Tony, even more than Tony saw in himself.

As a leader, Mike was charged with succession, an exercise he approached not as a reaction to someone’s departure but as a runway for the future.

While most people zoom in, distracted by their daily challenges, Mike made it a priority to zoom out and ahead. 

Mike didn’t retire for another 10 years after the “Tony, I want you to move” conversation. He wasn’t scrambling to fill a headcount. He didn’t need Tony to move out of necessity. He wanted Tony to prepare to be part of the future.

But succession only works if people with potential believe in their potential. Mike used mentoring to fuel that belief.

He couldn’t wait for potential to emerge. He first had to notice people:

• Are they staying?
• Are they growing?
• Are they moving?
• Are they mentoring others?

But it wasn’t enough that Mike noticed Tony’s potential. Succession happened because Mike built the relationship that made that potential visible and actionable.

Succession isn’t simply about replacing the retired with the newly hired. It’s about growing people to not only carry the future but to believe in their potential to do so.

And just like that, mentoring becomes the linchpin in succession.

© 2026. Ann Tardy and MentorLead. www.mentorlead.com. All Rights Reserved.

And then I discovered the book Revealing: The Underrated Power of Oversharing by Leslie John, a behavioral scientist and professor at Harvard Business School.

According to Leslie’s research, the risks of under-sharing are far greater than the risks of oversharing. Turns out that “too little information” (TLI) can be equally harmful to our relationships.

When we share something meaningful with someone, we communicate our trust in them because we value the relationship.

But when we under-share our struggles or our shines, we withhold ourselves from the other person, leaving them feeling excluded and untrustworthy.

Concerned that we might look foolish, weak, incompetent, needy, or unprofessional, we tend to hold back.

Our instinct is to protect ourselves by saying less, ignoring the relationship consequences of withholding.

During the period when my dog died, my mom struggled with dementia before dying, and my husband battled cancer, TLI became my MO. I pulled back and muscled through the demands of caregiving.

Someone who was once close to me angrily described me as “unapproachable.” I hurt her feelings when I didn’t let her in. By not sharing, I announced, “I don’t need you,” the death knell to any relationship.

But Leslie argues in Revealing that we don’t just need to trauma-share or dump more information onto others. We need to share information that reveals our humanity.

Between TMI and TLI is RI: Revealing Information.

RI is not indiscriminate oversharing. It’s appropriate self-disclosure, authentically showing our friends and mentoring partners the work in progress that we are.

What gets shared in RI? Our uncertainties, mistakes, fears, doubts, thought processes, emotions, and growth journey. That which makes us more authentic and credible, allowing someone to understand us better.

To identify RI, consider:

• “Would revealing this help my relationship or our conversation?”
• “What would be useful for this person to know about me?” 

Revealing our humanity is a trust-building act. By taking this small social risk, we declare to another person, “I trust you with this. You now understand me better.” In doing so, we give them permission to do the same.

When we share our wins, wobbles, and wonders, we not only strengthen trust and connection, we allow another person to see our humanity and root for us.

© 2026. Ann Tardy and MentorLead. www.mentorlead.com. All Rights Reserved.

Dolly Parton is:

• one of the most decorated artists in American entertainment (winning over 190 awards!),
• the visionary behind Dollywood (generating money and opportunity in her home state since 1986),
• the creator of the Dollywood Foundation (providing scholarships to high-school seniors since 1988),
• and the founder of Imagination Library (gifting over 300 million free books to children since 1995).

But as evidenced by the tributes pouring in this week, her mentoring outsparkled her ubiquitous outfits and eclipsed her amassed achievements and accolades.

Shania Twain: Dolly was my “mentor and songwriting teacher.”
Miley Cyrus: Dolly was not only her godmother but served as her mentor, advising her throughout her career.
Lorrie Morgan: “Dolly took me under her wing.”
Reba McEntire: Regularly called Dolly for advice.
Lainey Wilson: Dolly offered her advice on passion, discernment, and saying, “No.”
Reese Witherspoon: Dolly helped her prepare for her role as June Carter Cash.
Julie Roberts: Dolly offered her career and life advice on the set of Steel Magnolias.
Carly Pearce: Dolly gave her professional opportunities to perform at Dollywood and the Grand Ole Opry.
Beyoncé: Dolly publicly welcomed and encouraged her move into country music.

How did Dolly, a girl from Tennessee, one of 12 children sharing a one-bedroom house, learn to be so unselfish with her time, money, and influence?

She was generously mentored.

(1) Dolly’s Uncle Bill Owen. As Dolly shared during Bill’s eulogy in 2021: “I wouldn’t be here if he hadn’t been there.” 

Country music songwriter, Bill is credited as the man who launched Dolly’s career. He taught her how to play the guitar at 8, booked her first performance on a radio show at 10, and scheduled her for the Grand Ole Opry at 13. He tirelessly walked the streets, knocking on doors to get Dolly signed with a record label.

Why? He believed in her. “The greatest thing Uncle Bill ever did for me was to help me see my dreams come true, and for that I will forever be grateful.”

(2) Country star Porter Wagoner.
Before Dolly was a household name, she struggled as a solo artist. Porter recognized her talent and recruited Dolly to join his variety television series. He supported and elevated her career for 7 years until she felt ready to strike out on her own again.

Dolly Parton undoubtedly lived a star-studded life. But her most indelible mark was made through the mentoring moments she created by lifting others, opening doors, and changing lives. Because people did that for her.

© 2026. Ann Tardy and MentorLead. www.mentorlead.com. All Rights Reserved.

I am an avid reader, but I don’t enjoy books that I find soul-crushing, insufferably boring, or unnecessarily long.

My book recommendation list, however, is highly curated, bursting with books that I found inspiring, uplifting, empowering, surprising, or enlightening!

While I am enjoying my annual sojourn to Beaver Island, Michigan, I’m sharing a few of my favorite reads this year. (To see last year’s list, click here.)

Fiction for the feels:

• Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser
• The Calamity Club by Kate Stockett
• The Lion Women of Tehran by Marian Kamali
• Theo of Golden by Allen Levi [thank you, Greg, for gifting me this gem!]
• My Friends by Fredrick Backman
• Heartwood by Amity Gaige
• Tomorrow, Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin
• The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict
• The Frozen River by Ariel Lawhon

When you want to be a better mentor and human being:

• The Next Conversation: Argue Less, Talk More by Jefferson Fisher
• The Stoic Challenge: A Philosopher’s Guide to Becoming Tougher, Calmer, and More Resilient by William B. Irvine
• Are You Mad at Me? How to Stop Focusing on What Others Think and Start Living for You by Meg Josephson, LCSW
• Talk: The Science of Conversation and the Art of Being Ourselves by Alison Wood Brooks
• What to Make of a Life: Cliffs, Fog, Fires and the Self-Knowledge Imperative by Jim Collins

When you want to lead like an entrepreneur:

• Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More than They Expect by Will Guidara
• The Customer Success Economy: Why Every Aspect of Your Business Model Needs a Paradigm Shift by Nick Mehta and Allison Pickens [thank you, Lesa, for this recommendation!]
• Who Not How: The Formula to Achieve Bigger Goals Through Accelerating Teamwork by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy
• Write a Must-Read: Craft a Book that Changes Lives – Including Your Own by AJ Harper
• Put Your Ass Where Your Heart Wants to Be by Steven Pressfield

Happy reading! All book recommendations welcome!

© 2026. Ann Tardy and MentorLead. www.mentorlead.com. All Rights Reserved.

He deploys a simple yet powerful, albeit counterintuitive, concept: the business is the Guide and the customer is the Hero. 

The Guide’s job is not to save the day. The Guide understands the Hero’s problem and helps the Hero solve their problem.

Miller delineated his methodology in the 7-part StoryBrand framework:

1. a character (the Hero)
2. has a problem
3. meets a Guide
4. who shows them a path forward
5. and calls them to action
6. helping them avoid failure
7. and ultimately achieve success

On a recent podcast episode, Miller took a departure from his standard marketing topics to apply the Guide-and-Hero concept to build connection.

Miller explored how to turn everyday conversations into magnetic, trust-building exercises where people feel seen, heard, and valued.

In our incessant quest to be liked, we tend to overvalue competence and overlook the value of connection.

This approach results in talking far more than we listen, dazzling others with our amazing stories. Our conversational partner doesn’t feel valued and understood. They feel ignored and talked at.

Miller suggests one question to help us prioritize connection over competence:

“What does this person need from me right now?”

This question shifts our stance from look-at-me to what-about-you, positioning us as the Guide and our conversational partner as the Hero.

As the Guide, we can help our Hero meet their needs, which builds connection and strengthens trust.

Miller argues that everyone in every conversation needs something: affirmation, information, validation, solution, wisdom, encouragement, inspiration…

How do we know what they need? We can ask. We can listen. We can observe. We can guess.

The point is not to be right about what they need; it’s to be curious about their needs. By entering the conversation as the Guide, we can discover how to support the Hero, not impress them with our resume.

Similarly, in our mentoring relationships, the Mentor is the Guide, and the Mentee is the Hero.

As the Mentor, our job is to understand a Mentee’s problem, show them a path forward, prompt them to act, and help them get somewhere they couldn’t easily get to alone.

When trust is the gateway and the linchpin, approach each interaction by asking, “What does my Mentee need from me right now?”

© 2026. Ann Tardy and MentorLead. www.mentorlead.com. All Rights Reserved.

So, I was genuinely surprised by his interview on The Louis Theroux podcast when Ed revealed a raw, relatable insecurity: social comparison.

According to psychologists, social comparison occurs when we compare ourselves to others to evaluate our own worth.

Ed vulnerably shared how this insecurity is triggered by new artists entering the fray.

He continued, recalling specifically how he felt when Shawn Mendes became popular in 2013, “I remember wondering, when all the kids loved Shawn, does that mean it’s over for me?”

Ed felt conflicted. He knew Shawn, really liked his music, and was happy for the 15-year-old. But he also felt threatened by Shawn’s success.

He shared this experience with his Mentor, Elton John, who advised, “Whenever that happens, just get to know the person because you’ll always want to root for them.” 

Elton put it in perspective for Ed: It’s not a race. It’s a career. You can release music, and people can like it, and they can come to your shows. But no one is not coming to your show because they’re going to a Shawn Mendes show. They’ll go to both.

Ed leaned into Elton’s wisdom.

He joined Season 21 of the singing competition television show, The Voice, as the “Mega Mentor,” helping new artists grow, not just as singers but as overall performers.

In addition, Ed started a practice of inviting one new singer-songwriter to join him on tour every year. This year, Ed invited Myles Smith, the rising British singer-songwriter, to accompany Ed in his Loop Tour.

Today, Ed chooses mutual respect over rivalry, going out of his way to create camaraderie when an artist releases new music. When Ed heard Sam Fender’s new song, “Will We Talk,” Ed liked it and immediately messaged him with admiration.

Mentors shift our perspective, helping us move from competition to collaboration, from measuring others to measuring our progress.

The opposite of comparison isn’t confidence. It’s curiosity.

• What can I learn from someone on a similar journey as me? 
• What has their experience been like? 
• What lessons have they learned?
• What advice could they offer me as I progress?
• Are there ways we could partner?
• How could I support them?
• What mentoring do they need?
• Who is in their community? 
• How could I contribute to them?
• Who could I introduce them to?

Comparison asks, how do I measure up? Growth asks, how am I improving?

© 2026. Ann Tardy and MentorLead. www.mentorlead.com. All Rights Reserved.

• In 1998, she won her first Grand Slam singles title. She was 17.
• In 2002 she became number one in the world for the first time.
• In 2017 she won the Australian Open while pregnant.
• She holds 7 Wimbledon singles titles.
• Her 31-year career makes her one of the longest-tenured elite athletes in the history of professional tennis.

None of this happened alone. Serena’s career has been shaped and guided by mentors: her father, her coaches, her colleagues, and even her sister, Venus.

As she described it in a Vogue article, “That’s how I started to move so fast up the rankings, because I learned the lessons from Venus’s losses instead of the hard way from my own. If I hadn’t been in Venus’s shadow, I never would be who I am.”

In 2014, eyeing her future retirement (vehemently disliking that word, she calls it “an evolution”) from tennis, Serena started investing in startups.

In 2019, Serena introduced the world to her early-stage venture capital firm, Serena Ventures (recently rebranded as “Starfish Ventures”), focused on identifying and supporting overlooked founders.

In 2022, the firm raised its first institutional venture fund of $111 million. It has since funded 16 unicorn companies, including MasterClass, Impossible Foods, and Noom.

But it wasn’t until she became an investor that she felt the lack of mentorship in her life. Serena told Business Insider, “In hindsight, I feel like I should have had more Mentors.”

Today, she is using her role as a VC to not only invest in but mentor entrepreneurs, open doors for them, and help them avoid mistakes.

Her favorite advice to founders:

• You have to show up 28 hours out of 24.
• Success requires extraordinary commitment.
• You can’t underestimate the power of hard work.
• Become a better storyteller.
• Build trust with people before you need something from them.
• Invest in relationships, not just your ideas
• Success is built on people investing in one another.

Career transitions (or “evolutions”) are fraught with self-doubt, confusion, and loneliness. Even one of the world’s best athletes felt the confidence jolt of traversing a new landscape.

When you find yourself in an evolution, lean into mentorship. Don’t tell me you’re “too busy.”

And when you see others evolving, strategically place yourself in situations where you can offer mentoring by virtue of your title: manager, investor, formal Mentor in a mentoring program.

As a Mentor, Serena isn’t transferring knowledge like she might on the tennis court. She’s transferring resilience.

© 2026. Ann Tardy and MentorLead. www.mentorlead.com. All Rights Reserved.®