In these liminal (yes, I have been looking for an opportunity to use that word) days between the old and the new year most of us reflect back and look forward a bit. Days where we're not sure what time of day or even what day it really is... snow outside and cosy inside. A cocoon that makes the "hour of the wolf" come at different moments.

It turned me a bit nostalgic this year, and I ended up doing some midnight rewatching of old movies I saw in my teens and twenties... I selected American Beauty (and Hot Tub Time machine but let's not go there) and something caught my eye.

I had not seen those movies for decades, but I noticed that I reacted to them and the characters in them differently. Where before I would root for the kids and think of them as cool, almost aspirational... they came over more posing and insecure; while the grown-ups instead of being a bit boring and whiny now turned more sensible and struggling with real issues...

I believe that if you don't consider your younger self an idiot you probably still have a lot of growing up to do. And that line made so much sense at that moment... but it also brings me full circle to why mentorship is so valuable.

It's not that the mentor has all the answers... they just have a different vantage point, a different altitude. And that altitude shift is the hidden value of mentorship in transition moments. I see this repeatedly with Data & AI leaders in transition who misread their situation... and end up paying for that.

It's not a lack of intelligence or effort, it's a lack of altitude. You're still inside the story you should be seeing from above. You identify too closely with the role you fought so hard for to get that you don't see where your insecurities are showing to others. Your stakeholders feel this posturing and don't fully trust and support you... forcing you to solve the wrong problems too early.

This is the kind of work I end up doing... to help you bridge the first 100 days of setting out on a strategy. To bring you the altitude of somebody that has walked the path many times before and can help you reflect and correct.

Most leadership mistakes aren't bad decisions... they're just made from the wrong altitude with the wrong world view.