The start of a journey to build a reverse mentor collective and business – XYZ Playground

The Company We Keep is a column on the CN&CO blog that profiles some of the most interesting people in our networks. Here we share the details of the lives of people we know, showcasing the extraordinary diversity of our society and proving that people truly are at the heart of everything we do. In this feature our Joshua Nuttall introduces and explores the concept of reverse mentorship and a new business that he is creating.

Reverse Mentorship is a concept and a way of thinking that provides a space where the leaders of today can learn from the leaders of tomorrow.

This concept flip-flops the typical mentoring relationship and challenges us to think differently. Having said this I am a strong believer that mentorship is a bi-directional relationship and just as we hope to offer the leaders of today a new way of thinking, we will also learn from their experience.

The XYZ Playground is concept that was born from the vision a few individuals have had to help the leaders of today learn from the leaders of tomorrow. The XYZ Playground is enabled through a reverse mentor model. We have created a collective of diverse, bright, creative, and young minds from around the world. We believe that we can add value to your journey and help you problem solve, while also learning from your experience. Whether you are a senior executive, a start-up founder, or an entrepreneur, we have a solution for you in our playground. The world around us in changing and requires new perspectives to navigate it.

As I mention in the recording, at the XYZ Playground (www.xyzplayground.com) we encourage you to not only think outside of the box, but rather to come and think, experiment, share, leaarn and play inside the playground.

As I continue to tell and share the story, I would love to have you along for the ride. In an effort to do just this, we have started a weekly podcast series with Jens Heitland.  We are prototyping along the way, so please let me know what you enjoy and what you don’t.

Here’s the first episode from this week.

You may also enjoy this blog, “What do you know about reverse mentorship? Learn more here.”, which gives a bit more context to the XYZ Playground. If you would like to connect or learn more about some of the thinking behind this initiative, feel free to drop me an email (joshua@cnandco.com)