CEO Mastermind
“Humans are good at relating ‘up’ where we assume the role of student and learn from a teacher, and humans are good at relating ‘down’ where we are the mentor and we seek out a mentee, but we are inexperienced at relating ‘across’ as peers.”
I’m part of this extraordinary mastermind group of social impact leaders. There are four of us; three women and me. These women lead some of the most pioneering organizations in their fields/countries (one is based in Germany, one in Australia, and one in DC/Pakistan). We Whatsapp-message every day, host monthly video-calls where we tackle problems we’re encountering, and we’re gathering next month in Vancouver to apply the collective brain-trust to issues of management and leadership. I’ve absorbed and applied much of their wisdom into the Uncharted context, and I’m a better leader for it.
The whole experience has reminded me of how rare true peership is. Someone told me once, “Humans are good at relating ‘up’ where we assume the role of student and learn from a teacher, and humans are good at relating ‘down’ where we are the mentor and we seek out a mentee, but we are inexperienced at relating ‘across’ as peers.” I’ve found that to be both true and profound, which makes the discovery of peers -- no matter how many time-zones away they are -- an unusual gift.