A founder's accumulated experience can be valuable to colleagues, especially in a professional landscape as varied as Rajeev Khandelwal's. But mentoring and approval are different relationships. When every coaching conversation ends with the senior person choosing the answer, younger managers learn to present questions rather than develop and defend their own judgment.
Ask for the considered option
A manager benefits from explaining what they believe should happen, what evidence supports it and what could make it wrong. This makes the conversation a test of reasoning. The senior colleague can challenge assumptions without immediately replacing the proposed decision with the answer they would have chosen from experience.
Keep the accountability visible
Coaching becomes confusing when the manager formally owns a decision that the mentor effectively dictated. Clarifying who decides allows both people to speak honestly. Advice can remain influential without becoming an invisible instruction, and the manager can explain why a recommendation was accepted, adapted or declined in the circumstances.
Choose learning opportunities deliberately
Not every decision offers the same room for experimentation. Reversible choices with limited consequences can provide useful practice, while unfamiliar commitments may require closer oversight. Matching the learning opportunity to the potential consequence protects the business and avoids setting someone up to fail in a situation beyond their current preparation.
Review the reasoning afterwards
A good outcome can follow a weak decision, and a disappointing result can follow a sound judgment under uncertainty. Reviewing the reasoning separately from the result encourages better learning. Over time, mentoring creates managers who can think independently while knowing when to seek help, reducing the institution's dependence on constant senior intervention.
