Everyone wants to be Yoda on LinkedIn but forgets that Yoda barely spoke.
I’ve been mentoring for a while now. Not in the grand, dramatic, “I’m changing lives” kind of way. Just helping folks when they need it. Most of the time, I don’t even say I’m mentoring. Because I don’t guide people unless there’s something genuinely off-track. If things look good, I let them run with it.
That’s the fun part anyway, watching people figure stuff out their own way. I’m just there in the background, like the chill uncle who steps in when things go sideways.
I’ve had around 20 mentees over time. Not all at once, of course. That would be chaos. And it’s never been about quantity. It’s about the moments. Those rare 1:1s where someone’s stuck, burnt out, or just confused, and I can show up with a conversation that actually moves something. That’s mentorship, at least how I see it.
But lately, the internet’s been on a different vibe. Everyone’s a mentor now. Like literally everyone.
You reply to two DMs, drop a “keep going, bro 💪” on LinkedIn, and suddenly you’re “mentoring 100+ people”.
Come on. Like, come on!
If you’re working a full-time job and mentoring 100 people, there are only two options. One, you’ve invented time travel. Two, you’re just throwing vague career advice into the void and calling it mentorship.
That’s not mentorship. That’s content.
Don’t get me wrong. Sharing tips, tweeting advice, running a Discord, and all of that is cool. Helpful, even. We’ve all learned from strangers on the internet. But can we stop pretending every like and comment is a mentorship connection? You don’t mentor someone just because they joined your Slack. You don’t become a guide by being inspirational on LinkedIn.
And the worst part? This stuff gets rewarded. “Mentoring 200+ students” sounds shiny on a resume. It’s LinkedIn-gold. Suddenly, being a thoughtful, low-key mentor to 5 people doesn’t feel impressive. But it is. Honestly, it’s way harder. It takes effort, consistency, and the willingness to not be in the spotlight.
Mentorship isn’t a metric. It’s a responsibility.
Even my own mentor doesn’t have a hundred mentees. But when I talk to him, it’s deep. I walk away thinking for days. That’s the kind of impact I want to pass on, not dopamine hits.
I’ve had times when I couldn’t give enough value to a mentee. I’ll admit that. I don’t pretend I can solve everything. Sometimes I just sit with their problem and say, “Yeah man, that sucks. I don’t have a fix. But I’m here.” That honesty matters more than any tips-and-tricks carousel post.
What we need less of are personal branding disguised as mentoring.
And more quiet mentors. The ones who don’t market it. The ones who actually care. Who sit with you through the messy middle, not just the wins.
So yeah — if you’re helping one person with intention, you’re doing more than most who shout they’re helping hundreds.
Don’t let the internet’s scoreboard fool you.
