When Mentoring Changes You: Lessons Mentors Learn About Themselves Through the Process 

Phoenix, AZ – January 26, 2026. 

In this episode of The Mentorship Blueprint, Mark is joined by mentors Jill Bould and Derek Sigurdson for a grounded, honest conversation about a truth many mentors don’t anticipate: mentoring doesn’t just shape young people—it reshapes the mentors themselves. 

Like many who step into the role, Jill and Derek began their mentoring relationships with unspoken expectations. The belief that they needed to have answers. That they should offer solutions, guidance, or a clear path forward. But mentoring has a way of quietly undoing those assumptions. Through lived moments with their mentees, both mentors describe how letting go of fixing, rescuing, or “getting it right” opened space for something more meaningful. 

As the conversation unfolds, it becomes clear that mentoring is not about control or outcomes—it’s about relationships. Jill and Derek reflect on how releasing expectations allowed them to show up with greater presence, patience, and self-awareness. Instead of leading with advice, they learned to listen more deeply, sit with discomfort, and trust the process of growth unfolding in real time. 

These internal shifts extended far beyond the mentoring match. Both mentors share how the lessons they learned—finding their voice, staying engaged through uncertainty, and choosing presence over perfection—began to shape how they show up in their personal relationships, professional lives, and everyday interactions. Mentoring became a mirror, revealing patterns, strengths, and areas for growth they hadn’t fully seen before. 

This episode is a reminder that mentoring doesn’t ask us to be experts or heroes. It asks us to be human. To be consistent. To be honest. And to stay in relationship even when the answers aren’t clear. When mentors are willing to grow alongside the young person in front of them, transformation happens—often in quiet, lasting ways. 

Hear from those shaping the future through mentorship. . 

Listen to this episode of The Mentorship Blueprint to hear Jill and Derek’s reflections and explore how mentoring can change the way you show up—not just as a mentor, but as a person. Follow and subscribed the Mentorship Blueprint Podcast on Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify