What's the difference between mentoring and coaching?

Mentoring is often prescriptive. You describe your situation, and the mentor, drawing on their experience, offers advice or solutions. It's valuable, but it's based on what worked for them, in their context.

It's a bit like going to the doctor: you describe your symptoms, and they prescribe a treatment.

Coaching is different. Think of it like stepping into a house of mirrors, only the mirrors reflect different parts of your thinking, habits, beliefs, and leadership style. My job as your coach is to hold those mirrors up so you can see yourself more clearly, and from different angles.

It's not about giving you the answers. It's about helping you find better questions.

Great coaching helps you shift perspective, develop insight, and take ownership. That's how you grow sustainably: not by copying someone else's path, but by walking your own with more clarity and purpose.