🎙️ The Career Insurance Every Leader Needs But Most Never Get ⭐

🎖️ The Career Insurance Every Leader Needs (But Most Never Get)

Hard work is important—but it isn't career insurance.

Careers don't stall because people stop working hard. They stall because people stop growing intentionally.

In this episode of Command 2 Corporate, Larry Perry explores one of the most overlooked career advantages: understanding the difference between a mentor and a coach. While both can shape your future, they serve very different purposes. One shares wisdom from experience. The other challenges you to think differently, grow faster, and become the leader you're capable of being.

Whether you're preparing for your next promotion, navigating a career transition, or simply looking to become a stronger leader, this episode will help you understand how intentional relationships can become one of the greatest investments you'll ever make.

🎯  In this episode:
Why hard work alone isn't enough to grow your career
The difference between mentoring and coaching
When you need one—or both
Why every leader needs "career insurance"
How to find the right mentor or coach
Common mistakes that limit career growth

Leadership doesn't happen by accident. Neither does career growth.

🗣️ Subscribe to Command 2 Corporate for practical leadership conversations designed to help you grow your influence, strengthen your leadership, and prepare for opportunities before they arrive.

🔑 Key Takeaways
Hard work earns credibility; intentional growth creates opportunity.
Mentors share experience. Coaches challenge thinking.
Career growth should never depend solely on your current employer.
The strongest leaders intentionally build relationships that stretch their perspective.
Great mentors provide wisdom. Great coaches develop capability.
Investing in yourself today creates opportunities you can't yet see.
Career insurance isn't found in a title—it's found in continuous growth.


Who has had the biggest impact on your career—a mentor, a coach, or someone who was both?

What's one lesson from that person that's still shaping the way you lead today?

👇 I'd love to hear your story in the comments.

#mentor #coach #careerdevelopment #careerinsurance #leadershipdevelopment #command2corporate

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Most people think hard work is career insurance. It isn't. Companies restructure, leaders retire, priorities change, jobs disappear. If your entire career depends on your resume or your current boss, you're taking a huge risk. Today I want to talk about what I believe is the best career insurance you can have. And that's understanding the difference between a mentor and having a coach. Welcome to Command To Core. So before I jump into it, let me say I'm on vacation. I'm actually in Portland, Oregon. Took some PTO. Beautiful city. I walked around a little bit, but I've spent more time going excursions. So I've seen uh let's see. I went to two waterfalls, Monoma Waterfall. Huge waterfall actually climbs to the top. Um there's a path, a switchback path that goes all the way to the top. And it's pretty, pretty, it's only a mile, but it's pretty dang steep. Um I passed people that were taking breaks multiple times going up it. Um, and so but it's worth the view, and then up top you can get in the stream or there, and that was great. Or, but then on the way down, man, I mean it's tough on your knees because it's again so steep. So I could feel a little bit the next day. Um, and then the next day went to uh La Torrel, if I'm saying that right, falls, which is really nice, and you can actually get right up to the fall itself. So as it's coming off the cliff and coming down and hitting below, you can stand right up. I mean, you can almost go underneath it if you wanted to. I don't know how safe that would be. But I mean getting soaked in seconds. I mean, but it was really nice. Maybe I'll try and incorporate a clip of that. Went out to Trillion Lake and get a good view of uh Mount Hood in a distance, and people all in the lake, it's really nice. So you can take a trip out here. Definitely the the lakes, waterfalls, amazing. So definitely check it out. Um, hopefully, you get some time today to go to uh the bookstore Powell's, which I hear is uh starting a scene. Um, so yeah, boardway, Oregon, check it out. Okay, so let's jump into it. So, why do so many talented people feel stuck in their careers? So, hardware does get noticed until it doesn't. A lot of people may have been there being dependable as expected, but not rewarded. Many careers plateau because people wait instead of intentionally developing, people invest more time maintaining their job and building their future. Now, let me say, I think, you know, there's plenty of people took on myself. I think continuing education is a lifelong thing. I remember telling my kids years ago from like I don't know what year it was, to like it had to been a good 10-year span where I took some form of continuing education uh every year just to get better, to learn new things. You definitely can't stay stagnant. Whatever the latest and greatest thing is, you gotta keep working on it. So like AI, I mean people may be shying away from it, but it's the future. Get in there, get in early, and if you still haven't gotten in, learn it, you know, because it's part of the future. Um, but you know, hard work though tends to not be enough. A lot of faced. So what actually accelerates you through it? That's why I want to talk about mentor and coach. So, what's the difference between a mentor and a coach? So a mentor shares experience, opens doors, offers perspective, says I've been there often free, relationship-driven, long-term. And I can say that you've been a mentor to many. Um, and my approach is mentorship, it's not coaching. So, what's the difference then? What's what's a coach? And sometimes people use the words anonymously and they're just not the same. So, coach challenges thinking, creates accountability, builds capability, says things like, What are you going to do? You know, there are people that are usually hired unless your organization has some kind of um, you know, system, you know, continue, you know, talent management program or something like that. They're gold different, they're structured. So I can say from a mentor, because I'm more so gonna tell people, I will ask exploratory questions and you know, ask, but I'm also wanting people to be accountable, calling them out when things are not right, but I also want to drive people to achieve, to succeed. So, in my mentality with mentoring, it's been more so about I want to see you succeed. You have a goal, you want to get there. How can I help you based on previous learnings get you to that point? And that's what I strive to do. So, a simple comparison for a mentor, I'll share what worked for me, but also like I'm thinking through this, I'm trying to problem solve and see if I can, you know, think of a solution that can help me from point A to point B quicker. Whereas a coach might say, I'll help you discover what works for you. I would say that I'm on the my mentor side because I'm like, do this, stop doing that. And I've been fairly successful. My goal is to get people promoted, get them where they want to be, and take those steps to do their. And that's not to say that it's gonna happen overnight, but you're gonna see this pattern of change that's working in your favor. The mistake many people make is assuming that these two are interchangeable, and you know, it can lead you down, like if you're wanting, like, I need something, I need you to tell me, like, I'm lost. Um maybe the mentor is right for you, but because people use the two words interchangeable, that can kind of it could potentially set you up a few because it's like that's not what I was looking for. So, when do you need a mentor and when do you need a coach? So keeping this on this reading thing. So, mentor, career transition, promotion, industry, knowledge, politics, maybe, networking confidence, executive exposure. So, with those 100% that I've been more down the path of a mentor, it is not what you need. So, coach, leadership behaviors, communication, executive presence, decision making, confidence, accountability, performance. So there's a difference. And it's not to say that some won't pull, I would say a mentor would pull more from the coach bag of trace versus a coach pulling from the mentor bag because again, if you're paying for their structure, they're going through the continuous education, you know, certifications, whatever. So you're gonna stick to that logic and that ad. And sometimes you need so, for example, I recently signed up for an executive coach, I've never had one ever. And I thought to myself, you know, I've been mentoring people, I can't say that I've had that for myself in my in the in the corporate space. So mentors are not available in a structured sense, and I was really struggling. Who could I use? Who would I feel confident into being a mentor to me? Excuse me. So I say, well, I've never had a coach, let me try that and see how it feels. But here's something I don't think enough people talk about, though, is like how you know utilizing as that insurance. You know, so why do I call them this an insurance? Company don't manage careers, people do. So a mentor will help you avoid mistakes, and that is 100% true. Or if you made them help to you kind of course correct and get out of that. A coach helps you become someone capable of handling bigger opportunities. And again, I can see from my own experience how if you're you know off-track mentor, and I'm to use myself for example, I've helped someone get back on track. So you've veered off the course, you're gone down a path, you're on a side quest you shouldn't be on. It's like, let's get on the main story, let's stick to that path. Now that you're back on there, let's start getting some wins, getting your imagery built, things like that. But this also can help you get ready for that next level to be able to handle that. So going back, career insurance means you're continuously growing and how we invest in you or not. And a lot of times, people may find themselves where even the chart be able to mentor and you know take the time. That's not the case. For one, sometimes the department's too small, but sometimes it could just not be the right character because that is a skill set and people not everybody has it. And even if people go through the process of becoming a true coach, that still doesn't, in my mind, still doesn't mean that you're really effective at because it bubbles to me with your character, your nature, to actually want to help. So if you wanted to, you would do it. You know, it doesn't mean that you have to formally be educated. Maybe that complements what you're already doing, but you want to do it. You want to do that help be that, you know, career insurance or something. So career insurance means you continue growing, whether you can company investing you or not. You aren't preparing for your current job, you're preparing for your next opportunity. And that's really where someone may articulate and say, you know, hey, struggling with, like, for example, I had someone come to me and say, you know, I want to be a people leader, but I'm not in charge of people. How do I do that? So then in my mind, I'm saying, okay, is there an opportunity for you to get in front of people and display leadership without being in charge? They think about these different opportunities. Oh, well, I I could probably run a project. I said, Great facilitation, you know, as a project manager, that is a good way to display leadership, holding people accountable, driving a project forward without having direct leadership of the people. So that's a good opportunity. And he used that to leverage and showcase I do have leadership skills, which did lead to much success for him. And later on down the line, coupled with many other things, he was able to get promoted. So when you think about mentoring, I told you, like I struggled myself, trying to find people. How do you actually find these people? How do you find the right mentor or coach? So you definitely don't want to ask a mentor. You got to build relationships, you have to ask questions, stay curious, follow through, respect people's time. You know, great mentors choose people who demonstrate action. In a sense, I've had people like I've been paired up, you know, through a program, but then I've had people come up to me and start asking questions, and the next thing you know, it's evolved onto this mentorship, you know. But they are willing to take the action, they're willing to say, I will stop this and we'll do this, you know, and they're following instructions to see it and it ever benefit. Coaches are investments, uh, they're not expensive. So, but again, realizing that their approach. And another thing, sometimes people have mentors are completely outside of their organization. You know, they don't have to be inside, and you know, the best coach maybe hasn't worked in your industry. And I've found that recently I've uh signed up, as I said, for executive coaching, and this person has never worked in my industry, but they have a lot of experience being a coach documented that I was able to review. So here's one mistake I see over and over though looking for someone to solve problems instead of helping them think differently. So, you know, and I think that's part of it is when you're when someone's on the receiving side, mentoring coaching, being able to listen, either take direction from a mentor, or you know, just have a different way of thinking to say I've never thought of taking that approach, I've never thought about this. And I can start for myself from a coach's perspective, and on receive on the receiving end of a coach, and I've just started this journey, I just had an exploratory session, so I haven't really gone on a path much yet. But helping them to you know maybe get me to see things differently on where I want to be, what I want to achieve. So and this is and then also having set routine uh sessions, so you just don't want to go to them when there's a problem, but it's like just talking, you know, a variety of things, you know, so that's what you probably you know. When I thought about, you know, as I looked at myself and said, you know, who can I see as a mentor in the organization? I just kept going higher and higher, and then I'm like, I'm stopping at the CEO. Like I'm not sure, you know, really if this is a good fit for me, looking at people in an organization, looking at myself wanting to grow and be somewhere, you know, sooner than later position, just reckoning value. Um, and sometimes that could lead you down the path of getting listened. I'll use myself for an example, where most of my changes in my career I think have boiled down to that, and maybe not, you know, where when you join an organization or someone brings you in your team, it's really based on what you can do for them. But as you move up, you also want to work at your level, and you want to be valued for the level that you're at. And sometimes people above you don't see that and they don't appreciate that, or it's not a thing, you know. And the higher you go, sometimes it's you should when you talk about you know the altitude, uh, start to see your view, your focus should be on the higher levels, more strategic. Only people have heard that. But you have people above you that they don't operate that way, they don't even see it. And so that can be the struggle. It's like, how do I overcome this? How do I break down this barrier? How do I move forward? And that's what they would think. Okay, let me see about the approach. Maybe they can help me maybe think about things differently, how to approach things differently, whatever the case may be. So that's that's what I would say. But again, the difference between a mentor, they're gonna more guide you, tell you approach gonna get you to kind of explore and see things for yourself. And maybe I'm wrong. If anyone thinks differently, let me know. And for those that have gone a path down the path of using a mentor, how is that experienced? Have you also used approach? How is that experience? How would you say they're different? Um, I don't know. Let's see. Uh yeah, and I and one thing I do also want to add because when I think about like for my immediate people in my chain of feeling, in my immediate leadership, they're not in it. Um, I've already found that out, so it's like I gotta go elsewhere to get that, um, and then hopefully take that learning and bring it back where I can apply it and hopefully drive change and see things different. So my leadership mirror for today for this session. If I lost my job tomorrow, who can I call for honest advice? Who would challenge me? Who is investing in my growth? And who am I investing in? Leadership mirror. So flip that on yourself. If you lost your job tomorrow, who would you call for modest advice? Who would challenge you? Who would you who would invest in your growth? That's the key. There's people out there that honestly they're they're not interested. Some people don't want to see you do that, you know. So really think about that. Look in the mirror, that leadership mirror. Who would invest in your growth? And who would you invest in? Who was that first thought? And that could be a challenge in itself. Okay, finally, leadership challenge for this week. Identify one person who has positively influenced your career. I can think of a name that comes to mind right away. Reach out, not to ask for anything, but simply to thank them and let them know how they impacted your journey. Then identify one area where you want to grow as a leader. Ask yourself, do I need someone to share their experience or someone to challenge my thinking? Again, ask yourself do I need someone to share their experience or someone to challenge my thinking? The answer will tell you whether you're looking for a mentor, coach, or both. I hope that you found this session valuable. Leave with purpose, leave with courage. Catch you next time up in the middle of the day.