Latest / The Marketing Career Podcast with Fexingo: Marketing Jobs, Skills, and Career Growth / How Mid-Career Marketers Use Reverse Mentoring
Transcript
- Lucas: So you're a marketing director, maybe twelve years in, solid track record, but somewhere in the last two years you've started feeling a slight lag when it comes to TikTok trends or meme culture or how Gen Z actually talks about your brand online. Luna: That's a very specific and slightly uncomfortable description. I think a lot of mid-career marketers feel that but don't say it out loud. Lucas: Right. And the traditional fix is 'go take a digital marketing course' or 'hire a consultant.' But there's a simpler, cheaper, and honestly more effective path that a lot of people overlook: reverse mentoring. Luna: Where the junior person mentors the senior person. I've seen it in tech companies, but less so in traditional marketing orgs. Is it actually gaining traction? Lucas: It is, and I want to zoom in on a specific case. I spoke with a senior brand manager at Procter & Gamble — let's call her Sarah — who was running a major household cleaning brand. She'd been at P&G for nine years, great at distribution strategy, TV creative, retail partnerships. But her brand's TikTok presence was flat. The content felt like a 45-year-old trying to rap. Luna: Ouch. But probably accurate for a lot of legacy brands. Lucas: Exactly. So instead of hiring an agency, she asked her VP if she could set up a six-week 'digital immersion' with a social media specialist on her team — a guy named Marcus, maybe three years out of college, who ran the brand's Instagram and had a side hustle as a gamer on Twitch. Luna: So the junior person becomes the teacher. How did they structure it? Lucas: They met twice a week for thirty minutes. Marcus would screen-share his phone and walk Sarah through the TikTok For You page, explaining why certain videos popped and others flopped. Then he'd give her homework: post one original comment on a trending video, create one stitch, and report back. She had to do it, not just watch. Luna: That's key. Passive listening wouldn't change anything. She had to actually do the thing. Lucas: And she did. After six weeks, Sarah started rewriting the brand's briefs from a platform-native perspective. The engagement rate on their TikTok content went up 40 percent within three months. And more importantly for her career, she became the in-house expert on how to reach younger consumers — a skill that got her promoted to marketing director six months later. Luna: So the reverse mentorship became a visible leadership move. She wasn't just getting tutored; she was modeling learning agility in front of her VP. Lucas: That's the part I think a lot of marketers miss. Reverse mentoring isn't about admitting weakness. It's about signaling that you're adaptable, self-aware, and willing to leverage every resource — including the talent you already have on your team. Luna: And Marcus — what did he get out of it? Because if the junior person doesn't benefit, it's exploitation, not mentorship. Lucas: Great question. Sarah made sure Marcus got exposure. She brought him to leadership meetings to present the TikTok strategy. She gave him a stretch assignment to lead the next campaign launch on social. And she wrote him a strong recommendation for a lateral move into the digital innovation team. He got visibility and a career step he wouldn't have had otherwise. Luna: That's the reciprocity piece. Both sides need to get something concrete. Otherwise it's just unpaid consulting. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the model I want listeners to consider. You don't need a formal program. You just need one person who knows something you don't, and the humility to ask. Luna: But how do you pitch that to your boss or to the junior person without it sounding weird? 'Hey, teach me how to use TikTok' feels a bit awkward. Lucas: It can be. Sarah's approach was to frame it as a business initiative. She said, 'I want to close our digital fluency gap so we can compete on TikTok. I'd like to learn from someone who lives in that world every day. Can I borrow Marcus for two hours a week?' That's not ego — that's strategy. Luna: And the junior person — you approach them with respect. 'I admire your expertise in this area, and I'd love to learn from you.' People are usually flattered, not offended. Lucas: Right. Now, a few practical guidelines if you want to try this. First, set a clear duration. Six to eight weeks is enough to build momentum but not so long that it feels like a burden. Second, have a specific skill goal — not 'learn social media' but 'learn how to write for TikTok's short-form storytelling.' Third, the senior person must do the homework. No delegating. Luna: And the junior person should get something tangible in return. A presentation opportunity, a project lead, a public acknowledgment. Lucas: One thing I love about reverse mentoring is that it flattens hierarchy in a really organic way. The senior person models vulnerability. The junior person models expertise. The rest of the team sees that learning flows both ways. Luna: I've also seen it work across functions. A marketing director reverse-mentored by a data analyst on SQL, or by a customer service rep on frontline pain points. Lucas: Absolutely. The concept scales beyond just age or digital. It's about any gap you can identify and fill from within. And it costs zero budget. Luna: Which brings me to something that's been on my mind. We talk about these practical strategies every week — and if this specific episode sparked an idea you might actually use, that's exactly why we do this. Lucas: Yeah. And the way we keep these conversations ad-free and accessible is listener support. If today was useful to you, you can buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. That's buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: It's not a big ask. Just a way for folks who get value to chip in so we can keep going deep on niche topics like this. Lucas: Exactly. And now, back to the mechanics of reverse mentoring. One question Sarah got from her peers was: what if the junior person isn't a good teacher? Not everyone who's skilled can transmit that knowledge. Luna: That's a real risk. How do you mitigate it? Lucas: Sarah suggested a trial session. Meet once, see if the chemistry works. If it doesn't, you can restructure or find someone else. The worst outcome is a wasted hour, not a six-week commitment. Luna: And you can also coach the junior person on how to teach. Give them a framework: show, do, review. Lucas: Exactly. Finally, document the learnings. Sarah created a one-page playbook from her six weeks with Marcus and shared it with the broader marketing team. That turned a personal development exercise into an organizational asset. Luna: And it reinforced her reputation as someone who not only learns but distills and shares. Lucas: So here's my takeaway: if you're a mid-career marketer feeling a skill gap — whether it's TikTok or SQL or AI tools — don't default to a course or a consultant. Look sideways or down on your own org chart. Find someone who breathes that skill every day. Ask them to teach you, and offer them something real in return. That's reverse mentoring, and it might be the fastest career move you make this year. Luna: And if you try it, we'd love to hear how it goes. What's the skill you'd most want to reverse-mentor? Lucas: For me, probably AI prompt engineering. There's a junior analyst on my team who's incredible at it. I might just ask her next week.