Cheers to you from Panera, with one of my long-time mentors – Lunch out 2008, #1

Image by Earl – What I Saw 2.0
I get to have lunch meetings with people every week, and this one was special. This is my friend, John, who has been making a personal investment in my life since 1989, almost 20 years.

We were in the Panera on York Rd in Baltimore, and the place was packed with the lunch-time crowd. (If you’re checking, I had an Asiago Roast Beef sandwich with the chips swapped out for a large fruit cup and a diet Pepsi with fresh lemons.)

This was the best of two shots I took, putting my camera on my Gorillapod on my side of the round table, setting it to two-person portrait mode with the 10 second timer on and then running around the table to get into the shot.

Some people were amused, some people thought we were crazy – just like life!

First in a series.

Once you begin to cultivate a personal and professional relationship with a mentor, it’s important to allow that relationship to grow over time. Without making unrealistic demands on the person, you’ll want to learn as much as possible from them and take advantage of whatever opportunities he or she can help create for you. The expectations you have of your mentor, however, should be realistic. You’ll probably discover that the relationship you develop with your mentor (and the fact that you adopt a specific person as your mentor) will happen over time and probably won’t be a premeditated series of events. Once you pinpoint someone you’d like as your mentor, and you begin seeking guidance from him or her, maintain an open mind regarding the advice that’s offered. While the person you look up to may be extremely experienced and knowledgeable, the advice or guidance he or she offers isn’t gospel. You should always remain free to make your own decisions and pursue your own destiny.

A role model or mentor is someone you can learn from. It’s someone who can help you expand your knowledge and who can help create opportunities for you. Your mentor, for example, can help you build up your network of professional contacts, make introductions for you when seeking a job, help you make important decisions, and share his or her first-hand experience. In some cases, it’s very appropriate to want to follow directly in the footsteps of your mentor or role model in order to reach a similar level of success. As you do this, however, you want to maintain your own personal and professional identity, yet borrow from the mentor or role model the skills, knowledge, or qualities you most admire.

When it comes to learning from others, there is no limit to the number of people you can adopt as role models or mentors. For example, you may believe someone like Anthony Robbins is the perfect role model when it comes to perfecting your public speaking abilities and/or pursuing your quest to become a happier, more motivated, and better-organized person. You might not want to become a motivational speaker yourself, but you might want to adopt some of his talent for truly inspiring others. At the same time, you might look to another business leader in order to learn how they expertly manage people or have overcome professional challenges that you are currently facing. What’s important to understand is that it’s an excellent strategy to adopt role models and mentors who will inspire you, help you achieve success, and who can assist you in overcoming your specific weaknesses. As you begin to work toward achieving your personal, professional, and financial goals, you’ll want to learn from as many people as possible in order to achieve your own success. After all, there’s probably no reason why the formula someone else used to achieve his or her success won’t also work for you. What you need to do is study how and why an individual achieved his or her success or overcame his or her obstacles, then figures out how you can do something similar. When you have direct access to you mentor, use your time with that person to ask plenty of questions. Utilize the time you spend with your mentor as a valuable learning experience. Once you’ve set your own personal and professional goals, actively seek out role models and mentors whom you believe can assist you on your quest to achieve your goals. Look to experts in your field for knowledge, people you know and care about for support, and anyone else whom you believe has qualities you greatly admire.

At some point in your professional life, you too may have the opportunity to become a mentor or role model for someone younger and/or less experienced than you. Once you’ve achieved some level of success, why not use what you’ve learned to help others? Becoming a mentor or role model for someone can be a tremendously rewarding experience.

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