Robin's Mentoring Matters Blog
Encourage and inspire others to reach their potential
Advice Doesn’t Change People—Engagement Drives Change
We live in an era overflowing with information. If you have a problem, an answer is seconds away. You can search Google, prompt an AI model, or scroll through hundreds of expert threads. We have access to more advice than any generation in human history—yet people,...
What if the Hardest Seasons of Life Become Our Greatest Teachers?
None of us plans for the phone call that changes everything. Sometimes it is a diagnosis. Sometimes it is the sudden loss of someone we love. In the business world, it often may be redundancy, financial collapse, a failed venture, or the quiet realization that the...
The Best Leaders Think Like Mentors and Inspire Growth
What if we’ve been thinking about leadership the wrong way? For decades, leadership has been defined by vision, strategy, decision-making, performance targets, and accountability. While these remain critical, a fundamental question often gets overlooked: What happens...
How Many Students Can a School Really Know? Exploring the relational limit of secondary school scale
There is a question about secondary education that we rarely seem to ask with sufficient urgency. How big is too big? We are not thinking in terms of balance sheets or operational efficiencies, nor in terms of how many science laboratories can fit onto a single...
The Hidden Cost of Going It Alone: Why Interdependence Is the Ultimate Strength
We live in a culture that elevates the solitary hero. From early childhood, we are fed a steady diet of slogans designed to celebrate individual achievement: “Be self-reliant,” “Stand on your own two feet,” “Solve your own problems,” and “Don't depend on anyone.”...
NEW ZEALAND, AOTEAROA, A NATION OF POTENTIAL AND OPPORTUNITY
What if we changed the narrative about our country? After almost 50 years in education, mentoring young people, and developing communities, I believe New Zealand’s greatest untapped resource is within our people—not beneath our land or surrounding our shores. Too...
Why Your Brain Needs a Mentor
The neuroscience behind relationships that help us grow What if one of the most powerful tools for changing a person's life isn't a programme, a qualification, a performance review or even a brilliant piece of advice? What if it is another human being? We often talk...
Why the World Doesn’t Just Need Peace… It Needs Peacemakers
Every generation longs for peace. Indeed, it is one of humanity's oldest dreams. Parents pray for it as they raise their children. Communities seek it after tragedy. Nations negotiate for it after conflict. Religious leaders preach it. Politicians promise it....
We Are Living Through a Connection Crisis – Why mentoring matters more than ever
"The deepest human need is not simply to be successful. It is to know that someone genuinely sees us." In recent times, I asked a group of business and other leaders a simple question: "Who had the greatest positive influence on your life?" The answers came quickly: a...
The Phone Call I’ll Never Forget: A Life-Changing Moment
"Robin... I nearly died. Before anything happened, there was someone I needed to thank." It was a Saturday evening in New Zealand when my phone rang—a WhatsApp call from Los Angeles. The voice belonged to Jabu, a former student from a school in South Africa where I...