Looking for Aspie mentor in management

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Hello. I'm Michael, a diagnosed Aspie. I've been in IT for thirty years, most of it in technical positions, or project lead roles.

I've come to understand the value of mentorship. I see how it has affected my life in areas like style (after hiring a style/fashion coach) and with physical fitness.

I'd like to learn how to move up into management - Director level positions. My experiences as a supervisor have been ... mixed. I care about the people that I'm responsible for, I read books on Servant Leadership and the like and they make sense, but putting them into action is... tough. The programs I run in my head to help me cope with situations break down and I run away, I avoid, I hide.

I'd like to break that. So I'm looking for a mentor - someone who is also an Aspie who is successful in management/director (or even higher!) positions. I'm totally open to email, phone, whatever works, but I would be grateful for valuable 1on1 advice about what made you successful, what tools/tricks did you learn and what obstacles you had to overcome (and still have to overcome).

I know this might be a very unusual request. I'm not looking to be a constant, daily need, but just to find someone that could answer a question now and then, give me pointers and help me to try to climb a new mountain.

Thank you,
Michael

G'day Michael,

I wouldn't put myself forward at that level, but I can say for sure, if you haven't spent much time listening to Mike and Mark already, then run, don't walk, over to Manager Tools and pick a topic of interest from their extensive array of free podcasts.

Besides their humanity and sheer know-how, what I like most as an Aspie is that they go deep on the underlying reasoning of things, before coming up and giving teach-able instructions of what to do.

I also bought their interview series product and did quite well in my last job transition, thanks to them.

I believe some of the topics are director-level stuff, indeed I was put on to it by a tech division lead who credited it with much of her success, and Mark himself has consulted in the White House.

The other great thing about their approach is the strong emphasis on integrity which gels with my Aspergers sense of social justice, expressed as a desire to get ahead on merit and competence rather than by having the best collection of dirty tricks.

Personally though I don't get in a lot of time with paper books these days, I find audio material is perfect for adding value to the commute.

HTH

Thank you @TimS1980. I'll give them a listen.

I've learned that the conversations I can have with mentors is invaluable, but I will take any input if they can relate to Aspies.

Kindest regards.

Michael, I was actually thinking of you today..
I caught a recent series of casts at manager tools (politics 101) and thought this stuff is gold, and I hoped you'd end up hearing them too.

One thing I wanted to mention as well, with a player like Beyondpod (if you're an Android guy) once the full RSS feed is set up, the whole collection becomes extremely accessible. If you want any assistance I'd be happy to help.

If you don't mind me asking, what did you think upon checking them out?

All the best -

How much have you budgeted to pay for being mentored?

@Tim,

I've not given them a listen yet, but I am going to. I'll let you know when I have, thanks!