Growth Partners are Critical to Our Success

Growth Partners are Critical to Our Success

So much of our happiness and success in life is shaped by what intentions we bring to our interactions with others.

How Lincoln Learned to Make Friends and Influence People

Abraham Lincoln was a master influencer, operating at a pivotal hour in America's history, seeking to rally people behind his tactics and vision to get American democracy to be protected, and slavery to be abolished. One of the instruments he actively used to win people's hearts and minds and dissolve differences was storytelling. He was a masterful storyteller, always having just the right story in his pocket when he indeed to inspire, unify, befriend, or persuade.?

We might wonder, how did he cultivate his storytelling craft?

Lincoln had a group of friends he would spend time with in the evenings during his days as a lawyer in Illinois. When they went to the bar after work, they did not just engage in everyday banter; they developed a practice where each of them would share a story, and then they all would vote which story that night they had liked best.?

How consummate an influencer could you and I become if we created a circle of growth partners with whom to engage in games like this??



How to Deal with a Tuff Situation

Antoinette Tuff was a bookkeeper who found herself thrust into a tragedy-in-the-making, a mass school shooting in America. A man called Michael Hill entered her school, armed with an AK-47 and five hundred rounds of ammunition. He encountered her at the front desk, substituting for the receptionist that day.?

In our founder Hitendra Wadhwa's book, Inner Mastery, Outer Impact, he has shared Antoinette Tuff's remarkable story. It is one of the most moving proof-points he has encountered of the capacity we all have to achieve breakthroughs. In thirty minutes, she disarmed Michael and turned him over to the police. No bullet had been fired, and she did not wrestle him to the ground. All she used was tact, poise, and a scoop of love.

Where did she learn to defuse a situation in this remarkable way?

In a subsequent interview, Antoinette shared that she learned this way of communicating as part of her group at Church, with her pastor. "We’ve had classes and he sits down and teaches us, you know, how to deal with people…and how to pray…and we practice that at church. So really, in all reality, all I was doing was carrying out what I’m taught every Sunday and Wednesday."

What breakthroughs might you and I generate if we too deeply invest with a community of like-minded seekers in mastering the science of relationships, resolving difficult situations, and connecting with our core??

This ability to come together in intentional circles, with a shared quest and a shared set of values, to accelerate our individual and collective growth…this is what has intrigued us the most in the last two years, culminating today, I am excited to share, in our launch of Mentora Life in January 2024.?

Mentora Life is a membership-based community that brings together professionals who are committed to learn, support, inspire, and grow together, in our pursuit of the four goals every human being is seeking — health, happiness, harmony (in relationships), and high performance at work. We have just completed a successful four-month pilot of Mentora Life with an in-person group in New York City and a virtual group across the US.??

“It's been really exciting at Mentora Life to be part of a really innovative approach to creating a community of individuals with differing experiences but a common desire to grow, to share, and to help others achieve a more open and fulfilling life. I’ve been so inspired by members' willingness to share their vulnerabilities and inspiring stories.” says Jonah Zimiles, Managing Principal at [words] Bookstore and Columbia Business School Class of ‘06. “And their response to the challenges they face is motivating me to master my own thoughts and reactions to daily life.”

Our goal with Mentora Life is to have people meet and connect not simply for a few months or a few years — but for the rest of their lives. Could this be achieved in an interfaith community like this, without ties to any one institution like a university or a church? The Moai groups in Okinawa, Japan give us strong reason to believe Mentora Life can have lifelong promise.?

Why Okinawans Live to a Hundred

In Okinawa, Japan, more than half the citizens are part of a Moai group. Moai means "meeting for a common purpose." Each group consists of around 5 people who first get together very early in their life, and then stay connected, meet frequently, and support one another all through their lives. An Okinawan who is experiencing a certain challenge or need knows they can turn to their Moai group for strength, understanding, and guidance. Researchers consider Moais to be one of the leading drivers of the long lifespan of the Okinawan people, making the region among the highest concentration of centenarians in the world.

Mentora Life will provide us something like our own Moai group, meeting month upon month, year upon year for a common, inspiring purpose — to have us all learn to activate our inner core and to express our five core energies of Purpose, Wisdom, Growth, Love, and Self-Realization in everything we pursue in life and at work.


Reserve your spot for upcoming Mentora events:

  • Mentora Life Virtual Information Session: Dec 12, 2023, 12 pm EST.

Register now

  • Mentora Life Speaker Series Talk with Melissa Bernstein: Jan 17, 2024, 6-8 pm EST.

Live in NYC registration

Virtual session registration

  • Webinar introducing our new AI-powered learning platform: Jan 24, 2024, 12 pm EST.

Register now

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