What Coaches and Mentors Can Learn from Crossing the Chasm
Introducing a new approach to every mentee at once, using the same pitch that excited your most receptive mentee, is the specific trap Crossing the Chasm names, and it's an easy one to fall into when one enthusiastic response feels like proof it's ready for everyone.
The whole book, compressed
This edition works through 4 core lessons — take them one at a time, not all at once.
What's different for your conditions
Tap whichever ones sound like you. Nothing here is sent or saved — it's just for your own noticing.
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The core lessons, applied to you
Understand that different audiences adopt new things for different reasons
One mentee's enthusiastic embrace of a new approach doesn't mean another mentee will respond to the same pitch, since a more cautious mentee needs proof it actually works, not just excitement.
A mentor keeps pitching a new approach with the same enthusiasm that won over one receptive mentee, and a more cautious mentee remains hesitant because that pitch doesn't address their actual concerns.
Identify one part of your pitch for a new approach that relies on enthusiasm, and add a piece that instead shows proof it reliably helps.
Pick one specific segment to win completely, rather than appealing broadly too soon
Fully proving a new approach with one mentee builds more credibility than introducing it to all your mentees before it's proven with anyone.
A mentor introduces a new coaching method to every mentee simultaneously, and uneven early results across mentees undermine confidence in the method before it's had a chance to prove itself with any of them.
Identify the one mentee where you could fully prove a new approach works, and focus there before expanding it to others.
Deliver a genuinely complete solution, not just the exciting core idea
A more cautious mentee needs to see a genuinely complete, reliable version of a new approach, not just the exciting idea that won over the enthusiastic one.
A mentor introduces the exciting core concept of a new approach without addressing the practical support a more cautious mentee actually needs to feel comfortable trying it.
Identify what "complete" means for the mentee you're trying to bring along next, beyond the core idea, and address the biggest gap.
Expand deliberately, one segment at a time
Once an approach has genuinely worked with one mentee, expanding it to others deliberately protects the credibility built with that first success.
Introducing today's approach to every mentee at once and fully proving it with one first aren't opposites — an approach proven with one mentee usually earns faster buy-in from the rest than an immediate rollout to everyone.
Name one thing, honestly
Is there a mentee you could fully win over to a new approach first, rather than introducing it to everyone at once?
Good. Now look back at the "Try this" line under whichever lesson feels most connected to what you just wrote, and treat that as this week's actual assignment — not all 4 at once.
The practices from this edition
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Run this for seven days
Identify what "complete" means for the mentee you're trying to bring along next, beyond the core idea, and address the biggest gap.