The Power of Mentorship
January 2025
In 1967, The Beatles wrote a song that went a little something like this:
"What would you think if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and walk out on me? Lend me your ears, and I'll sing you a song, and I'll try not to sing out of key. Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends..."
Whether it's advice on love, our careers, life choices, or what to have for dinner, we all need a little help from our friends from time to time. We need help, which is why mentors and the influence they have in our lives are so important.
My first job out of college was a corporate trainer for AT&T. It was a great job, but I was a hot mess. I was chronically late because I couldn't accept that I was in the real world now and that clubbing every week from Wednesday through Sunday, oversleeping, and pulling into the parking lot on two wheels were earning me nothing but side-eye glances and the disdain of my coworkers. We also had a dress code, which I constantly violated and did not care about. I continually missed critical deadlines, forgot my security badge, and was just an all-around bad employee.
My boss at the time would talk to me, and I'd follow her advice for a week or two and then backslide into my ill-gotten behavior. But all that changed when she left the company, and my new boss, Rosa, came. Rosa had been warned about me, but she took a very different approach than my previous boss. Rosa coached me and challenged my thinking. When I violated a company policy, she talked to me rather than reprimanding me. I even remember one occasion | when I violated the company dress code: she sent me home but told me I could change clothes and come back to work, which I did.
I began to see Rosa as a mentor and someone who truly believed in me. She proved this to me when our company went through a round of layoffs, and it was realized that I was going to be displaced. Rosa brought me into her office, we mapped out a plan, and she worked tirelessly to find me another position. I remember receiving the offer from my new department. She took me out to dinner, had an intense conversation with me, and gave me such sage advice that I still live by to this day.
January is National Mentor Month. I encourage us all to take a moment and remember that old Beatles' lyric: "We all get by with a little help from our friends." Be a mentor, seek a mentor, be the change you want to see in the world.
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Signing Off,
Denise
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