Everyone Needs a Kyle

I just looked through roughly 300 photos of a ceremony we had at the office on Wednesday, and one in particular struck me. Standing next to me is Kyle, who is - on paper at least - Legion's marketing coordinator. But, like everyone at our company, he wears many hats, and for the past year, he's served as my right hand, making sure everything that happens at Legion happens flawlessly, and making me look as good as possible (he's not a miracle worker) in the process.

Here, he's telling me who everyone is, where I'm supposed to stand, where the camera is going to be, and everything else I needed to know. Keep in mind, I was still pretty blind that day - less than a week out of eye surgery - so he was literally my eyes for the event, making sure I was looking in the right places in the crowd and I didn't run into the cars or anything else.

For many years, I mentored young women in my marketing department, hoping one of them would be the one who would take over for me in that capacity, and would bring the same perspective, and drive, and determination to the role. I had a ton of great young women work for me, but none of them stuck - they all moved on to other careers, other roles, other internships. Kyle was my surprise. A soccer-coaching, sarcastic, laid-back young man. If, when he first started with Legion 18 months ago, you'd have told me that he'd be the person to fill my marketing shoes, I'd have said you were crazy.

But he's fantastic. And he keeps me on course. He's like a younger, male, much more "together" version of me, and I look forward to seeing him grow and develop in his role at Legion. I joke that he's like my long-lost little brother, because we are so much alike, even though I'm nearly decade and a half older than he is.

This photo, and the moment it memorializes, is a reminder to me to keep an open mind, and to offer my time, knowledge and experience to everyone who asks, rather than assuming only a certain kind of person would be interested in mentorship or guidance from me.

It's also a reminder that Kyle is awesome, and that without him, I'd be wandering around Legion's parking lot, congratulating an empty bucket on earning a car, speaking to a crowd of half-full beer cans.