Mentor

One of my mentors…

…died last night at 86.  He lived a good life and was very successful. But for over 40 years he was a person that I could talk to about anything.  What is interesting in this is that he never declared that he was a mentor. Nor did I ever see him as a mentor while working. I never reported to him. 

What he gave me was instrumental in my professional growth and career.  In a fast growing and highly successful company he encouraged patience when I was frustrated and wanting to move to another company.  The result was that I grew to be a Senior Vice President and Group Manager and stayed with the company for over 40 years. In addition, he was a coach and team builder who linked me to critical people and opportunities.

Without a mentor…

…we can end up with a bunch of tired, miserable, deflated people.  Think about how often you have sat on a plane or been in a bar overhearing a person drone on about their job, how they got screwed out of a promotion, the company they work for, whatever.  Rather than having some mentors, they drone on to colleagues, strangers, maybe their families about key issues. 

If you are not looking to learn or grow, read no further.

A mentor is someone…

…who can help you meet or even exceed your potential.  Through their experience, access to senior leaders, and timely advice you can more quickly move through the maze.  As important, you have a person that you can give your thoughts and experience too. Mentorship is a two way street.  You give and you take.

Many organizations…

…have formal mentorship programs.  Be careful here. Many times these are formed after senior management meets with staff or a new management team comes into place.  These are like arranged marriages. My experience is that those selected did not find the programs useful. Lots of motion, but neither side knows fully the best process or expected outcomes.

Find a person…

…or two that are close to the top echelon of management  I am not talking the CEO but someone that plays at that senior level. It may be a line manager or staff.  Or each company has cutting edge programs that are being built. Find a leader in this area.  

Call and meet with them.  Let them know what you are looking for.  Just as important, tell them what you bring to the table.  Again, this is give and take. Take them to lunch once a month.  Or find out a joint interest and meet over some activity. For me, one of my mentors played tennis and we played twice a week and talked after playing over coffee.

Below are the results… 

…of my work with one of my mentors.  These may lead you to the results you are looking for.

Exposure

One of the things that my mentor did was expose me to senior managers throughout the company.  As a newly minted division manager, he took me to corporate headquarters and showed me around. This was unusual given that I did not report to him.  

On this trip he never said what we were going to do.  I more or less accompanied him to various meetings. The first meeting was with the founder and CEO of the company.  Upon entering his office, the CEO was giddy telling my mentor that they had just given him a computer. He went on saying that now he could look up all employees time sold.  In terms of professional services, time sold is the amount of direct work on contract was being worked versus lack of coverage or administrative duties. It was his key indicator.  And 80% was his expectation for those in the line.  

He asked my mentor his employee number and plugged it into the computer.  The CEO exclaimed that my mentors time sold was 67% and asked what was going on.  My mentor replied that he had just finished 2 proposals. The CEO said OK and said he had faith that mentor would get back to  80%. That meeting imprinted time sold in my mind for the rest of my career.

As we went back to the hotel I told my mentor that I would remain in my room for the evening.  He said no we had dinner plans. We went to a seafood restaurant in La Jolla and joined the CEO and his wife.   More pressure. There were more eating utensils than I was used to and seafood dishes that I had never heard of.  I am an Army brat where the Officer’s Club had a fork, salad fork, knife and spoon. And the seafood choice was breaded shrimp with cocktail sauce. So as not to make a fool of myself, I just ordered what my mentor ordered figuring that was the safest path.

The trip ended with my mentor picking me up at 1015 on Saturday in front of the hotel.  We drove to a house and entered. It was the CEO’s house and we were there for brunch.

To this day I am not sure why this all happened.  Senior managers in the company would have killed for this face time.  But this exposure gave me insight into the founder and CEO of the company. This served me throughout my career.

Advice

Another key role my mentor played was listening and giving me advice.  As a young hothead with more energy than sense at times, this was invaluable.  The talks would range far and wide, but at times it was about work.  My mentor had a good relationship with the founder and CEO. As a young manager I did my work but had a limited view of actions within the company. My mentor would share with me the broader context which helped me get beyond rumors or self-talk, thinking the company and management was crazy.

Many of the issues either I was not involved in or would hear about, I had limited information.  Much of the information was business or human resource confidential. Thus the information I had was partial truth, lacking in further detail, among many things. My mentor would provide me with more grounded truth and advice.  Usually it was sit tight.

Intelligence Gathering

Over time I also saw that mentorship was not a one way street.  My mentor was also gathering data from me in terms of snapshots of data, morale, politics, etc.  I am sure this data was used and fed upstream.  

Thus, I learned to  be careful on what I said or in what context.  My boss was on the Board of Directors and I did not want to betray him or send out wrong signals.  For in addition to my mentor, my boss was also a mentor. In a different way of course, but a mentor nonetheless.  All of this honed my level of professionalism as I moved up. This was key looking back. Many really good managers tripped themselves up not understanding how to maneuver through the wickets.  And as I was promoted over the years, the wickets only multiplied. No game playing.

Bottom Line

At every level of one's career you will want a mentor.   Every company or organization is different. It is good to have a guide to help you understand the hills and valleys of the organization that you are working for.  Otherwise you can cut yourself short, fail to see opportunities, or make a political mistake that may follow you for a long time.

Exposure gave me perspective.  Advice gave me background. Intelligence gathering honed my level of professional communication.

Pat