Mentors

The C4EC mentor network is a growing group of system practitioners who have worked on shaping, navigating, and executing exponential change across diverse contexts. They bring specific critical capabilities that can help Journey Partners (JPs) clarify their thinking, pressure-test choices, and move forward with greater confidence, especially when the work feels complex, uncertain, or stuck.

This network is most useful when:

• JPs are navigating a recurring chasm in their journey

• JPs are at a decision point in a sprint and want sharper thinking

• JPs want to sense-check how their strategy, structure, or narrative might enable exponential outcomes

Mentorship here is intended to be purposeful and impactful. Each conversation is concise yet deeply aligned with the JP's current challenges, connecting them with the right expertise at the moment it matters most.

Chasms on the journey:

• Knowledge chasm – Understanding the full complexity of the problem at scale so you can see what really needs to be solved.

• Reimagination chasm – Shifting from incremental thinking to imagining fundamentally new solutions that work at scale.

• Design–Action chasm – Moving from understanding to practicing prototyping and experimentation.

• Conviction chasm – Building belief among teams, funders, partners, and stakeholders to take on audacious, untested pathways.

• Coordination chasm – Enabling a diverse ecosystem — civil society, government, market actors — to align and act together.

• Mobilisation chasm – Securing sustainable resources, including financial and non-financial support for long-term scale.

Critical Capabilities:

Critical Capabilities	Description
Design Thinking	A human-centered, iterative approach to addressing complex problems by grounding strategy in lived experience.
Systems Leadership	Catalyzing collective leadership by holding shared purpose, navigating alignment and power, and enabling movement in complex systems where no single actor can lead alone.
Systems Architecture	Designing missions, roles, platforms, and relationships that create coherence while allowing the system to evolve, adapt across contexts, and scale over time.
Network Development	Identifying key actors in the system, clarifying their roles and strengths, and building trust-based relationships that enable coordinated action toward a shared goal.
Ecosystem Co-creation	Working across government, markets, and civil society to create value together through clear roles, mutual exchange, and effective collaboration.
Narrative Building	Making complex change understandable and credible by shaping narratives that resonate with diverse stakeholders without oversimplifying the work.
Organizational Development	Designing teams, structures, and leadership capacity that can grow with the work and sustain the organization over time.
Impact Measurement & Sensemaking	Interpreting signals of change, reflecting on outcomes, and using learning to guide decisions beyond narrow metrics.

Here are the mentors in the network:

Jim Fruchterman

Jagadish Babu

Sunita Nadhamuni

Pramod Varma

Lija Farnham

Lalitesh Katragadda

Shanti Raghavan

Shankar Maruwada

Harish Hande

Jeff Bradach

To request mentorship, a Journey Partner can fill out the Mentorship Request Form and submit it after getting it reviewed by their Relationship Manager.

For more information on the mentors, you can write to Shruti Rajagopalan at [email protected].