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I thought writing Quiet Champions would be about telling my own stories. But the real gold wasn’t in my experiences—it was in everyone else’s.

“The truth is in our stories.”

—David Snowden

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I’m not a prolific reader—something people in my field rarely admit. My eyes wander, and I envy those who devour books. Which made writing Quiet Champions…tricky.

Luckily, before starting, I spoke with Daniel Coyle (author of The Talent Code and The Culture Code). He gave me two invaluable pieces of advice:

“You’re going to feel like you’re floundering.”
When the fog of confusion, insecurity, and procrastination rolled in, I kept going—thanks to that timely warning.

“Let me guess—you’re opening each chapter with a personal mentorship story.”
I denied it—strongly—while secretly looking down at my list of personal stories, chapter by chapter. Dan’s advice? Drop them. Use your experience for perspective but gather other people’s stories too. That stuck.

That’s when we turned to SenseMaker®, a survey tool from the Cynefin Co. that captures narrative fragments, multi-faceted perspectives, and makes them measurable. With Complexability Australia, we built a custom SenseMaker collector. Hundreds shared their mentorship stories, offered nuanced perspectives and disclosed personal insights.

Together, these voices revealed patterns no single story could uncover—insights we’d otherwise be guessing at. As David Snowden puts it, SenseMaker lets us “read the wind on the water”—a current strong enough to take us all somewhere better.

The truth really is in our stories. Especially when we listen together.

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Want a deeper dive into the insights?

👉 Read the full mentorship research paper, Making Sense of Mentorship

What we learned about mentorship

We collected hundreds of stories—from mentors at their best, and sometimes, at their most human. These stories stretched across industries, cultures, and generations. A thread ran through them all: mentorship isn’t a title or a program. It’s a relationship built on trust, presence, and action.

Three takeaways stood out:

Mentorship is earned, not claimed.
The most impactful mentors didn’t set out to be mentors. They showed up, listened, and created space for others to step into their own leadership.
The relationship matters more than the structure.

Formal programs have their place, but the most powerful moments came from simple, human connections—a conversation over coffee, quiet encouragement, someone asking the right question at the right time.

It’s reciprocal.

Every story of a great mentor was also a story of a mentor who was learning, too. The best mentors are shaped by the relationship.

From these stories, five practices emerged:

build trust and respect,
listen more than you speak,
challenge with support,
align on values and purpose, and
use simple, reliable tools.

This research confirms what we’ve long believed at Roy Group: mentorship is a practice, and it’s through the that practice that we earn the word “mentor.”

As we prepare to launch Quiet Champions in the weeks ahead, I’m grateful for these stories—and for the reminder that the next generation of leaders must be accompanied by mentors.

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I thought writing Quiet Champions would be about telling my own stories. But the real gold wasn’t in my experiences—it was in everyone else’s.

Discover More:

What we learned about mentorship

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