Time with an expert is precious

I had my first meeting with my mentor from Deloitte last week, and it exceeded my expectations.

After my routefinder helped me to focus on what exactly I wanted help with, my first meeting with my mentor from Deloitte pushed my project to the next level.

Having not done research interviews for a long time, I had forgotten that no amount of research compares to a fact-to-face (or Zoom-to-Zoom) meeting with an expert.

While at university, this was highlighted to me when a single discussion with a professor could completely re-contextualise an entire week’s or even month’s worth of reading, by offering a perspective I had not thought about. While writing my thesis, a single interview could provide a completely new avenue of research that months of Googling didn’t provide.

In the case of Digital Connect, a conversation about cybersecurity that lasted for about 45 minutes, provided me with around 10 different actions to improve my organisation’s online presence that I could take back to my colleagues. Needless to say, they immediately recognised the value of this programme.

My mentor was extremely friendly and willing to help me find solutions. My rambling, general thoughts were quickly translated into concrete actions that I can suggest to my organisation, or even just go ahead and implement myself.

And the best part is that I can talk to my mentor throughout the whole project. I got so much out of just 45 minutes, I am really excited to see what I can get out of several hours spread over several weeks, as my project develops. I can bounce ideas off my mentor (even the stupid ones) and immediately get a considered and well-informed judgement.

So, once again I have re-learned that valuable lesson: reading and online research are great, but there is no substitute for speaking with a real expert (even for just 45 minutes).