There is a moment, just before a mentoring conversation begins, where the tone of everything that follows is set. Most of us arrive at that moment focused on what we are going to say. The observation we want to share. The pattern we have been watching. The feedback we have been holding back because it has never quite felt like the right time. We have often thought about it, rehearsed it internally, considered how it might land. And then we step into the conversation and disco
