What a Senior Vice President at Starbucks Wishes They Had Known Before Entering the Legal Industry
Michael, a Senior Vice President at Starbucks, found the question difficult to answer because of the extensive mentorship received throughout their career, primarily through proactively seeking advice and guidance from others. The most insightful piece of advice offered was the importance of actively pursuing mentorship opportunities, stating that "people don't do enough of [it]," and emphasizing the mentee's responsibility in driving a successful mentor-mentee relationship.
Mentorship, Networking, Career Development, Leadership, Executive
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Michael Fink
Senior Vice President
Starbucks Corporation
University of California Berkeley
Harvard Law School JD
Economics
Food, Beverages & Alcohol, Law
Legal
International Student, Honors Student
Video Highlights
1. Seek mentorship from professionals in your field of interest.
2. Actively participate in and take initiative during mentorship.
3. Mentorship is a two-way street; the mentee should actively drive the relationship and take ownership of their learning experience.
Transcript
What have you learned about this role that you wish someone had told you before you entered the industry?
That is a hard one. I had people starting even before college, during college, and throughout law school who would give me tips and advice about many things. I tended to listen to what they were saying.
So, I didn't really have a lot of surprises. I didn't think, "Oh, I wish I had known this." A lot of it came to me because I came from a family of lawyers, so some of it was just sort of osmosis.
I do think that people don't take advantage enough of talking to people, like in these interviews or listening to them. They miss opportunities to be mentored by somebody. I don't know if it's laziness or discomfort, but there are a variety of reasons.
I had done that, and I think that's probably a key thing people can do to help guide themselves. I've had people I've mentored on and off for about a decade, and others where it just didn't work out for whatever reason on their side.
I view a mentor-mentee relationship as something for the benefit of the mentee. The mentor wants to help and give back. The mentee drives it and owns it.
Sometimes it's just not a good match. Other times, I've thought people were just going through the motions. Somebody must have told them they should do this, but they could have gotten a lot more out of it. I encourage people to seek out mentors beyond just the jobs they have.