Episode 11 (Part 2): Keesha Boyd Talks Mentors, Sponsors and Career Transitions

Episode 11 (Part 2): Keesha Boyd Talks Mentors, Sponsors and Career Transitions

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In this episode I continue with part of of my interview with Keesha Boyd (learn more about Keesha from part 1 here). In the last episode Keesha shared with us her career journey including many pivots she made along the way and started scratching the surface of how mentors and sponsors played a big role in her career development. In this episode she dives deeper into sponsor and mentor relationships and particularly how to cultivate them. Here are some of the highlights from the episode:

Keesha says you need four types of mentors:

• A coach
• A peer
• A proven navigator with a similar style
• A straight-shooter

Keys to mentorship:

• Build rapport
• Have patience
• Get referrals
• Diversify leadership levels
• Be genuine
• Make sure it’s a two-way street

How to develop sponsor relationships:

• Need to be READY to put your best foot forward
• Mentors can help polish you up
• Have a strong, productive relationship with your boss. Can use the good rapport built with your boss as an entry point to more senior executives.
• Ask your boss if there is a meeting that you can attend with them to shadow them. Make sure you introduce yourself to attendees so that they know that you’re working on something and that you’re there to learn.

How to set yourself up well in order to change roles within your company:

• Line up your mentors: Learn the written rules and unwritten rules through mentors
• Be tight: Make sure that your on the job performance is TIGHT!
• Get clear: Get clear on what you want to do and why you are the person to do it. It’s okay if that changes, but go into meetings with some sense of purpose.

Quotables:

“Everybody is busy. Nobody has time to tell you what you what you should be doing!”

“Make it easy for people to help you by going in with a point of view.”

“How you show up is just as important as what you have to say when you get there.”

“If you want people to hear what you have to say, don't let your packaging be the noise.”

 

The Final 10

1. Keesha’s first job: preschool enrichment teacher
2. Keesha’s secret weapons of success: 1) vision boarding, 2) personal and professional goal setting, 3) board of directors
3. How Keesha describes her personal brand: motivated, interpersonally astute, optimistic
4. Best advice Keesha’s ever received: “It doesn’t matter what company is on your paycheck, the company you work for is Keesha Boyd, Inc.”
5. What Keesha thinks makes a good leader: They know how to give and receive constructive feedback, they exercise managerial courage and the ability to stand alone when necessary, they are solutions savvy, they are intellectually curious and also able motivate through inspiration not fear
6. Keesha’s morning routine: Besides “hit snooze and run, :)” Keesha does read through some affirmations in the morning. Keesha hasn’t cracked the nut on this one, but luckily we have something to help her and you! (read below about the book club I'm starting in January to help you jump start your morning routine so you can achieve your goals!)
7. How Keesha manages her life, career and relationships: She lets enjoyment drive how she’s managing her life. When she’s home she tries to be home unless it’s something work related that brings her joy to do.
8. What Keesha does, listens to or reads to keep sharp: for work she watches a lot of TV and reads a lot of industry trade pubs (Variety, Entertainment Weekly, etc), visits sites from new content creators,  reads Fast Company, visits TheRoot.com (particularly their Chatterati area) and Twitter.
9. Keesha’s favorite things: a cashmere scarf, a special tea mug and her iPad (loves to read on her iPad). Some of the books she’s recently read and enjoyed are Rachel Dratch’s book Girl Walks into a Bar  and Mindy Kaling’s book, Is Everyone Hanging Out without Me? 
10. How you can connect with Keesha on social media: on Twitter at @thekeeshab or at @vyneworld.

As we're getting close to the end of the year, I'm getting fired up about my big, audacious goals for 2015 and I  want to set the right foundation to make sure that I can do that. After listening to Pat Flynn's Smart Passive Income podcast episode with Hal Elrod last weekend, I realized that a morning routing could help me a lot. So last weekend I put a post out on Facebook to see if any of my friends were interested in being intentional about their morning routine to help them achieve their goals too. The response was overwhelming! So overwhelming that I decided to open it up to all of you. So on January 5th, 2015 we will be starting a book club using Hal Elrod's book, The Miracle Morning as a foundation to jumpstart our year and our goals for the year. If you're interested in joining the Goal Crushing Morning Masters Facebook group, request to be added here on Facebook.

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LISTEN TO THE EPISODE WITH KEESHA BOYD BELOW: