The Secret isn’t Actually in the Sauce: What Makes a Great Mentor

One of the more challenging things to do as a tenured professional with advanced skills is mentor or train a novice – sharing the "secret sauce" behind their excellence often stumps the experienced veteran.

Some people attribute their struggle to train a novice to a difference in natural talent, better motivation, or the rigor of their work ethic. They're not necessarily wrong about the natural talent thing, but frequently the trouble starts when they leave out the most critical part of transferring their expertise; that is, the most basic part of how they got to where they are – the secret really isn’t in the sauce.