For many young entrepreneurs, success can seem like a matter of finding the right idea, making the right connections, or moving quickly enough to stay ahead. Yet meaningful careers are rarely built from a single decision. They develop through years of observation, mistakes, difficult decisions, and lessons learned from people who have already traveled a similar path.
For Herb Meiner, mentorship has become increasingly important after decades of working across different industries and countries. His experience includes helping build and scale businesses, improving creative and operational processes, and working across environments shaped by different languages and cultures. As the founder and CEO of BVR Group Asia, his perspective on leadership has developed through both professional experience and the people he has encountered along the way.
Meiner’s perspective was shaped over decades of working on complex businesses and projects across North America and Asia, and later building BVR Group Asia. Those experiences exposed him to different cultures, economic cycles, leadership challenges, and stages of organizational growth, reinforcing his belief that judgment is developed through experience rather than theory alone.
Why Mentorship Matters
One of the lessons that has shaped Meiner’s approach to leadership is the importance of learning from people with experience. Mentorship can provide guidance that is difficult to gain through information alone, particularly when someone is facing decisions they have never encountered before.
Research also points to the broader value of these relationships. Harvard Business Review, in its 2023 article “A Better Approach to Mentorship,” cited research showing that 75% of executives credit their success to mentors, while 90% of employees with a career mentor report being happy at work. These figures suggest that mentorship can influence more than professional advancement; it can also contribute to how people experience and navigate their working lives.
A good mentor, however, is not simply someone with impressive achievements. Character, integrity, relevant experience, and a proven track record matter just as much. The right person can offer perspective, challenge assumptions, and provide direction during uncertain periods.
At the same time, mentorship has limits. Advice can help someone avoid unnecessary mistakes, but it cannot replace personal experience. Some lessons can only be understood by going through challenges firsthand. Making decisions, dealing with consequences, and adjusting along the way gradually develops judgment and helps people understand which lessons are worth carrying forward.
Building Growth Through Experience
That distinction is particularly relevant for young entrepreneurs today. Information has never been easier to access, yet having access to information does not necessarily mean having the wisdom to apply it.
One of the biggest gaps Meiner sees among emerging leaders is a lack of patience and practical judgment that can only develop through experience. Social media can make success appear immediate, creating the impression that businesses, careers, and personal achievements should develop quickly. In reality, meaningful growth tends to be slower and less predictable. Research using U.S. Census Bureau data, conducted by economists from MIT, supports this: studying the fastest-growing startups, they found that a 50-year-old entrepreneur is nearly twice as likely to produce a runaway success as a 30-year-old. The finding suggests that accumulated experience may play a role in entrepreneurial decision-making and outcomes
The finding does not suggest that age alone determines entrepreneurial ability. Instead, it offers a reminder that experience can compound over time. For younger leaders, the lesson is not to wait until they have decades of experience, but to recognize that progress does not need to happen overnight.
That perspective is also reflected in Meiner’s approach to business. His experience across startups, scale-ups, operational improvement, and business development has shown him that sustainable growth rarely comes from a single decision or one particular skill. It often develops through paying attention to details, understanding people, adapting to changing circumstances, and making better decisions over time.
Working across different business environments can also reinforce the importance of adaptability. What works in one market, culture, or organization may not automatically work somewhere else. Learning to observe the circumstances before making decisions is therefore an important part of developing sound judgment.
Listening Is Part of Leadership
Leadership is not only about having ideas. It also involves being willing to listen. Innovation and new ideas are valuable, but so is learning from people who have already experienced difficult situations.
For emerging entrepreneurs, this can mean actively seeking out people with relevant experience and paying attention to how they think, not simply what they have achieved. A mentor does not need to provide every answer. Sometimes, asking the right question or offering a different perspective can be enough to change how someone approaches a problem.
Listening can also help emerging leaders understand their own strengths and weaknesses. Knowing when to seek advice is itself an important leadership skill.
Let Challenges Become Part of the Education
Building a career or business rarely follows a straight path. Setbacks, uncertainty, and slower-than-expected progress can all become part of the process of developing better judgment.
Rather than focusing only on immediate results, emerging leaders can use difficult periods to ask a few practical questions: What am I learning? Whose experience could help me see this differently? What habits am I developing? And what kind of person am I becoming through the process?
These questions can turn challenges into opportunities for reflection and growth. Success may be measured by an outcome, but the experience gained along the way can shape how someone handles the next challenge.
