The Google Maps Philosophy of Mentoring

Over the years, I’ve worked closely with many founders.

I’ve been beside them in moments of clarity — and in moments of complete confusion. I’ve shared perspectives, flagged risks, suggested alternatives. Sometimes gently. Sometimes with emphasis born out of experience.

And yet, more often than we openly admit, founders choose a different path.

Not because they are careless.
Not because they disrespect advice.
But because entrepreneurship is deeply personal.

Founders don’t make decisions using logic alone. They decide through a complex mix of belief, fear, urgency, pride, and hope — often all at once. A spreadsheet may say one thing, but the heart often says another.

So they take their own route.

Sometimes it works.
Sometimes they get stuck.
Sometimes the struggle is heavier than expected.
And sometimes the outcome is harsher than anyone intended.

Early in my journey as a mentor, I often found myself questioning my role in these moments.

Should I push harder?
Argue more convincingly?
Remind them that I had warned them?

Over time, I realised something important.

My role is not to win arguments.
My role is not to prove foresight.
My role is to help founders reach their destination — even if the route keeps changing.

That insight became the foundation of what I now call the Google Maps philosophy of mentoring.

Think about how Google Maps actually works.

When it shows you a route and you take a different turn, it doesn’t react emotionally. It doesn’t raise its voice. It doesn’t say, “I told you so.”

It simply pauses, recalculates, and shows you an alternate route.

That is exactly how I choose to mentor.

When a founder ignores a recommendation and takes a different path, I don’t argue to protect my ego. I don’t withdraw support. I don’t react from frustration.

I observe, I recalibrate, and I redesign the process around their current reality.

Because resistance rarely comes from a lack of intelligence. It comes from ownership.

Founders need to feel the weight of their decisions to truly internalise learning. If I force compliance, I might get obedience — but I lose conviction. And without conviction, there is no real growth.

When founders are allowed to choose, stumble, and reflect, something powerful happens:

Advice turns into insight.
Mistakes turn into wisdom.
Dependency turns into capability.

From my side as a coach, this approach keeps the work honest and grounded. I stay focused on outcomes, not validation. I don’t measure success by how often I’m right, but by how capable the founder becomes.

For founders, it preserves dignity.

They don’t feel managed.
They don’t feel controlled.
They feel supported.

And when they eventually ask, “What should I do now?”
They’re not asking from defensiveness, they’re asking from readiness.

That’s when mentoring truly works.

Not as control. Not as authority.
But as a steady recalculation, helping founders move forward, one conscious turn at a time.

You’re allowed to take your own turns.
A good mentor simply helps you find your way back.

Every detour carries a lesson if someone is there to help you read it.