Fish Mentorship · The program
No goal, no seat
One goal. Three questions. A plan to go find your Who.
You think out up to three goals and bring the one that matters most right now. For that goal you answer three questions first: why this goal, who you need, and what you will quit if it isn't working by a set date. Your group pressure-tests it. You leave with a one-pager and a plan to go find your Who. We don't give you a mentor. We teach you how to fish.
Why this goal?
Why it matters to you, and why now. What is at stake if you do nothing.
Who do I need?
A mentor, a sponsor or a coach. What they must have done to be able to help.
What will I quit?
If it isn't working by a set date, what changes. Decided now, not later.
The language
Your Who is one of three people.
Mentor
Talks with you
Has been where you're going. Gives the hour and the story, free.
Sponsor
Talks about you
Spends their reputation on you, in rooms you aren't in yet. Earned, almost never asked for.
Coach
Works on you
One skill or habit, weekly, until it sticks. Paid is fine.
The rhythm
Three phases. Each has an A and a B.
A is before the meeting: a short form and two reads. B is after the meeting: your updated one-pager, plus a video or podcast if you want more.
Why
Discover and define1A · before the first meeting
Fill in the intake form, about 10 minutes. Two short reads are inside it: Who Not How and Thinking in Bets & Quit. Read Neal's deck, two minutes.
Within 48 hours you get your one-page goal sheet and a three-page deck: My Vision, My Why, My Path Forward.
Meeting 1 · 60 to 90 minutes
Rose, bud, thorn. Each person presents their three pages in about five minutes. The table pressure-tests it and names the Who: mentor, sponsor or coach.
1B · after
Your one-pager, updated with what the table said. Optional talks: Who Not How and Thinking in Bets.
Mentor and mentee
Who you want2A · before the second meeting
Two reads on being a good mentor and mentee: The FT Guide to Mentoring and The Success Factor. Then a 5-minute form: do you want a mentor, a sponsor or a coach, and who?
You get back your one-pager with a new page on your Whos: what they have done, the one question to ask them, and where they spend time.
Meeting 2 · about 60 minutes
One line each: what changed in my goal. Each person presents their Whos. Then the table fishes for each other: who here knows one of these people?
2B · after
Optional podcasts: Ruth Gotian on The Success Factor and the FT Guide to Mentoring.
Mentee
Owns the calendar, the agenda (three questions, max) and the follow-through. Reports first. Same-day thank-you.
Mentor
Owns the story and the hour. Nothing else. The report-back is the mentor's paycheck.
Peer
Both chairs at once: mentor on one goal, mentee on another.
Go fish
Cast your net3A · before the third meeting
A 5-minute form: how do you want to reach your Whos? A call, a text, an email, a LinkedIn post or a friend's intro. Two listens on networking and approaching mentors.
You get back your casts: the words for each, plus a prompt to search your own LinkedIn and one to send your friends.
Meeting 3 · the fishing workshop
Export your LinkedIn connections, run your prompt, and fish for each other live. Real names only, never invented. Expect to ask ten to land one.
3B · after
Your choice: keep going as a group, one-on-one, a coach, or stop clean with a thank-you. The same three steps work for your next goal.
Two ways to run it
Same process. The difference is who teaches it and how long it takes.
The small group
Four to six people, three meetings, one phase per meeting. A facilitator inside the group runs it. Once a group has been through it, they can lead it themselves.
One room, one sitting
A 2 to 3 hour session for five to fifty people at tables. Neal runs the front of the room: the talks, the form, and the closing workshop on working your network. Each table needs only a timekeeper.
Next pilots: Chicago the week of December 3, 2026, and Mosaic at FAU by the end of February 2027. To bring it to your chapter, email fishmentorship@gmail.com.