The wonderful thing about mentors is they come in all different packages at various times in your life.  I have had mentors of various ages, occupations, and cultures.  I have had mentors who took me under their wing and taught me their expertise and I have had mentors who never knew I was following their journey.  I have had mentors who taught me positive building blocks to prepare me for life and I have had mentors who I followed from afar.  Mentors who elevated me to a new level of competence and mentors who taught me what not to do. 

One of my early mentors was my swim team and synchronized swimming coach along with my boss.  This person was a natural athlete and a great teacher.  She knew how to run a successful business and how to train youth.  She was strict and no-nonsense with a great blend of knowing when it was time to have fun.  She was a person who did not want public attention but deserved the credit for running one of the strongest swim programs in the area.  We continued to stay connected once or twice a year by card or phone.  For various reasons, she moved out of state and started coaching a college softball team. She was connected to some of the big names in college coaching.  She was asked to train a volleyball player who had goals of trying out for the Olympics.  She agreed and he successfully made it on the Olympic team.  Years later, this friend is still one of my greatest sources of life lessons.  Every phone call she surprises me with another gem that I can tuck away for use at the right moment.  This is a woman who if you were speaking to her, you would NEVER know she had such an extraordinary life.  She is a hidden gem that I love to watch in a crowd.  She is the woman who everyone reluctantly agrees to play golf with and then she respectfully and humbly blows them all away on the course.

When I attended Bowling Green State University, I had a course where the Professor rarely showed up to class.  Sometimes a graduate student would show us a movie, but the class was a disaster.  After the course was over, I went to the Dean’s office to respectfully voice my discontent.  As I walked into the office I noticed a sign that said, my Professor’s name with Acting Dean after her name.  At this point, I was too far committed to turn around.  After talking with the Acting Dean, my Professor, she offered me a job for the summer working in the Dean’s office.  I did not know it at the time, but she would be one of my greatest supporters, she provided me with opportunities and opened my mind to new possibilities.  She encouraged me to continue on to school to get my master’s degree.  I first taught high school for one year.  Then I returned to school for my master’s and Ph.D.   Never would this have been my path in life without this mentor and without believing in something greater. 

I met one of my lifelong mentors at the University of Missouri.  This mentor provided knowledge, expertise, friendship, guidance and so much more.  This mentor to this day is one of my very best friends.  We met during a retail math class that she taught.  From that time on we formed a mutual respect.  As a side note, her mutual respect in no way came from my abilities in her retail math class!  We shared a similar common core of values and beliefs.  We respected each other and utilized each other’s strengths.  When I met this person, her physician expected her to have approximately 10 years to live.  She had breathing problems which led to numerous other issues.  Thirty years later, she is still alive and ornery as ever.  We don’t talk often, but she is one of those mentors/friends where you can pick up the phone and start right where you left off the last time you spoke. 

Another mentor of mine probably never knew she was my mentor.  She was one who put up a wall when you first met, but once you passed the “authentic person test,” you were in for life.  She was a woman who was challenged every day with her weight and ability to walk.  She was tired, hurting, and always struggling, but you never knew that about her.  She held her head high and NEVER accepted excuses.  She walked where she needed to go no matter how tough it was for her to endure.  What I admired most about this mentor was her generosity.  This mentor had a heart of gold.  Everything she gave she gave anonymously.  No one ever knew how that $10 got in their pocket.  Or how that rent money was mailed to their house.  Or how lunch appeared on their desk.  She had a way of knowing when someone needed help.  She quietly and anonymously did her part.  I had more respect for this mentor and friend than I could ever articulate.  One of the things I admired most was her ability to help others when she was so deserving of help.  She did not take, she gave. 

I have had many mentors in business, but one, in particular, stands out in her service to others.  While I was running the Big Brother Big Sister Foundation I had the privilege of being mentored by a financial genius/accountant who was a member of our board.  She was willing to give hours of her time to teach, train, and work with me.  She is a person who has a service heart.  She excels at helping others.  Her mind thinks a million steps ahead of mine, but she is able to dissect apart the process so that a non-accountant person with a decent business brain could understand.  This mentor of mine instilled knowledge into my brain that I have utilized my entire career and life.  I’m not sure this mentor knows exactly how much she positively impacted my life, but I will always be grateful for her guidance. 

There are also those mentors who have no idea you are learning from them.  While I was working in NYC, I followed a few business executives who were in the papers daily.  I followed them for various reasons, but much of what I learned was what not to do as an executive.  I noticed that I was interviewing numerous people who were employed by or had worked for these executives, and the comments were all similar; the executives had no respect for their employees.  After hearing that comment from numerous interviewees, I continued to follow those executives with the intent of learning what not to do when in a leadership role.

Each mentor has been a true blessing in my life and I thank God for placing them in my path.   Throughout my life, my mentors have helped shape me into the person I am today.  I was fortunate that I realized very early in life how important it is to seek out mentors; and, to understand what a gift it is to have mentors in your life.  Oftentimes, mentors turn into lifelong friends. 

I encourage you to reach out to people who seek your expertise.  Being a mentor is equally as satisfying and fulfilling as being the person who is mentored. 

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