Shruti Rajagopalan: belief

Transcript context

…If you want to find good mentors, I would say focus on yourself. Don’t focus too much on finding the mentor. If I’m thinking of someone I might usefully mentor, and they would, in turn, teach me things, I would wonder, “Well, is this person as curious as I am?” Something like that would be a starting point. I do figure they can’t fake that. They can’t even set out to become more curious. There’s something a little forced about that. But if they actually are very curious and just allow that to grow, they will end up in a position where maybe I will end up having a connection with them. For it to happen organically, figure out what your strengths are, and let those blossom, and then just be out there. But again, don’t try to force the mentoring thing too much because potential mentors can sniff that out, and that, to them, is very boring. Someone who wants to be mentored is the most boring thing you can imagine. Someone who wants to learn something can be very interesting, however. Tyler, you are a very good mentor, and I think that has something to do with how generous you are. How do you rate generosity on the scale for a good mentor? I don’t know that I’m generous. I think of myself as pretty selfish. And people I mentor in some ways mentor me, and I learn from them, and I’m always trying to think obsessively, how can I learn from them? I’m open to the notion of selfishly a bit exploiting them. For me to stay in touch or stay vital —…

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