Being with one company for 20+ years, you see a lot. Change, growth, perseverance, risk, consolidation, expansion. Many people come, and many leave. Senior engineers have since retired, and once-young engineers have now earned that senior title, only to be supported by new engineers in training just beginning their professional careers. The ebbs and flows of the business dynamic are undeniable. One constant that has become apparent across every landscape is the importance of mentorship.
To get right to it, the student is only as good as the teacher from whom they are learning. From my perspective, some of the best mentors teach without the student even knowing it’s happening. Let’s go back, for some… WAY back, to 1984.
A young Daniel LaRusso had just moved with his mother across the country from New Jersey to Los Angeles, where he met a man who would change the trajectory of his life forever, Mr. Miyagi. An unassuming mentor with impressive chopstick skills, Mr. Miyagi taught Daniel to sand the floor, paint the fence, and the ever-so-famous, put a little wax on and take that wax off. While Daniel was painstakingly working through job after job, his frustrations mounting, he was unknowingly learning the key points of self-defense. When Mr. Miyagi later showed Daniel that the jobs he had been completing actually translated to Daniel’s goal of learning Karate, not only was the light bulb turned on for Daniel, a trust was formed between the two, and the rest was history. Daniel ended up becoming the new All Valley Under 18 Karate champion by defeating Cobra Kai Dojo’s top student, Johnny Lawrence, stole Johnny’s girl and crane-kicked his way into the sunset.
While we all know this is a fictional example, the importance of mentorship is a very real component to success. Benjamin Franklin once said, “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I may remember. Involve me, and I will learn.” I’d be willing to bet we’ve all had a coach, a teacher, a friend or a co-worker who has had a positive impact on us. Chances are, you’re probably thinking of that person right now. Whatever attributes that person had, we admired. We wanted to do better… for them. We wanted to make them proud. To show them how the things they’ve said or demonstrated through their actions resonated with us and contributed to our successes. We were involved, and they were the example. The greatest part is that we all have that same opportunity. We can all be the example. Work is fast paced. Life is fast paced. But there’s a younger version of yourself watching your actions, watching you solve problems, just… watching.
Take the time to answer that question, to be available, to be a professional, to involve someone, to be the example. The cycle is as old as time itself, and it’s never going to change. The young become the old, and the student always becomes the teacher. How well is our responsibility.
