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This article is part of the America's Favorite Mom & Pop Shops series. Read more stories
Key Takeaways Mentorship sharpens decision-making by challenging assumptions, not by replacing authority.
Data creates clarity only when interpreted honestly, not when used as cover.
The right mentors expand perspective, reduce blind spots and strengthen final decisions.
If you’re tracking the numbers but still feel like decisions are harder than they should be, you don’t have an information problem. You have an interpretation problem.
That’s where mentorship earns its keep. Not by telling you what to do, but by pressure testing your assumptions, challenging the story you’re telling yourself and forcing you to look at what’s really driving results, especially how and where money is being spent.
The myth about mentorship
When entrepreneurs talk about mentorship, many often picture a more experienced person stepping in with directives. That someone else gets a vote in their decisions, and their leadership starts to look less decisive.
That’s not what happens in effective mentorship. Authority isn’t a scarce resource that shrinks when you invite perspective. It shrinks when decisions are made in a closed loop. The larger the business gets, the easier it is to confuse confidence with clarity, especially when you’re the one closest to the problem.
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