The five stages, in five sentences

1. 01Observe
   You start seeing yourself from the outside, and a vague discomfort becomes a picture you can analyze. It's emotional intelligence turning into practice: recognizing your own reaction, and other people's, in time to choose what to do.

   The reading stage. The mentor observes your context: environment, career moment, behavior patterns, and what the organization actually values. Before any advice, the picture needs to be legible.

   Application example

   Together, we map your environment: who decides, who influences, where the risks are, and where your room to maneuver is.

2. 02Probe
   You identify the right problem, and the hard decision gets simpler once the question is framed correctly.

   Questions that structure the problem before any answer. The goal isn't to test you, but to separate what's essential from what's secondary and surface assumptions that had gone unnoticed.

   Application example

   Faced with an invitation to take on a team or change areas, the questions separate discomfort with your current position from genuine attraction to the new one: they're different problems, with different decisions.

3. 03Exemplify
   You gain options for action you didn't have, without becoming a copy of anyone.

   The mentor transfers executive repertoire exactly when it makes a difference: lived situations, tested practices, and action models applicable to your case, not off-the-shelf theory.

   Application example

   Before a difficult conversation, with a peer, with senior leadership, or with someone on your team, we rehearse: structure, language, anticipating reactions, and what to do if it goes off script.

4. 04Realign
   You leave the session with an actionable plan and criteria you can defend.

   Reading and repertoire turn into concrete direction: decisions made, priorities ordered, and next moves defined, with observable milestones.

   Application example

   A plan for the next ninety days: what to prioritize, what to decline, which conversations to have, and in what order.

5. 05Anchor
   You keep what you built once the cycle ends. Not depending on the mentor isn't a side effect: it's the stated goal.

   Progress is consolidated into sustained practice. What worked becomes habit; what didn't is revisited without drama. It's the stage that keeps the cycle from evaporating.

   Application example

   In the cycle review, we compare today's observable behavior with where it started: what changed, what holds up without the mentor, and what still needs attention.

See the full method, with the metaphors and the examples