5. PEER TO PEER ACCOUNTABILITY
(break isolation or slowly vanish)
Running the Make a Wave Incubator for women social entrepreneurs confirmed one thing: only participants who had the healthy habit of coming together with peers, co-mentors, and have brainstorming/advice clinics, where they could share their asks and listen to critics, actually made significant progress.
You don’t necessarily have to do that with friends. I would suggest you even invite people who work at the fringes of your network. The specimen, the geeks, the dreamers, the experts, the creative writers, (pick one…), bottom line, a few of these who would surely never think like you.
For the most advanced among you, mentoring others is a way to develop your leadership skills. It’s also a way you can make an impact amongst your peers. From doing this, you can move on to maybe becoming an official board member for a new start-up or an NGO. And later on, access the board of a more advanced organisation.
The cost of doing these co-mentoring meetups is minimum: a couple of hours, a couple of coffees and your tube fares. This is the minimum you need to invest in. At worst you can do this through skype. Cost: internet connection.
My take on this, I love when people are well fed, they open up more and you can sense who you are really dealing with, when you actually share a meal with them. For little hassle, use the social service Tablecrowd to manage the whole dinner process.