Thank you, Bill

??????????One of the most important things that every professional should do is find and recruit mentors who can help them develop, learn, and achieve their goals. I was fortunate enough to have one of the absolute best possible mentors out there in Bill Bishop.

???????????I met Bill in 2014 when he was in town for a meeting with Raley’s (where he served on the Board from 2007-2015). We had invited him to come to Engage3’s offices afterwards. Familiar with his background and his accomplishments, I immediately volunteered to pick him up and bring him to the office.

???????????It feels funny—and a bit silly—looking back on it now, but I had borrowed a friend’s BMW because I didn’t want to pick up such an industry legend in my old Toyota Camry. Little did I know that I was actually on my way to meet the most humble and least materialistic person in the industry. Once I picked him up from his hotel, I invited him to grab a quick lunch as I was eager to pick his brain on a few things.

??????????Cognizant of the value of his time, I was ready to jump into some of the million questions I had for Bill. Much to my surprise, however, he was genuinely more interested in getting to know me first. What was supposed to be 10-20 minutes, turned into a 90+ minutes. I had expected for Bill to see just another guy with a passion for entrepreneurship, technology, and the retail industry (he met dozens of people matching that profile every week) but Bill genuinely and patiently asked me very thoughtful questions about me, my background, my goals, ambitions, etc.

??????????This was to be the first of many times that I would experience Bill’s generosity and thoughtfulness with his time and attention. Rather than making me feel na?ve—next to his many accomplishments with the Supermarket Institute (now FMI), Willard Bishop, Brick Meets Click, his PhD from Cornell, etc.—he left me feeling empowered.

??????????This was the first of many meetings and meals over the next 9 years. I made sure to see Bill whenever we were within driving distance of each other: Sacramento, Chicago, Las Vegas, New York, or wherever else. He was consistently humble, kind, and generous despite how valuable and important his time was. I always walked away with new ideas and an evolved perspective. Although we did industry webinars together, sat jointly on panels, and reviewed each other’s materials over the years, I knew I always gained much, much, much more out of our interactions than he did. Yet he always made time for me.

??????????The selfish part of me is tempted to say that this dynamic was unique to me...but it wasn’t. I have no idea how he made time for this, but he somehow played the mentor-coach role for dozens, maybe hundreds, of people during the time that I knew him. I learned a tremendous amount about the retail industry from Bill. There were many ideas that I was able to apply to our strategy at Engage3 directly due to our conversations.

??????????But there were also many lessons that transcended beyond any one time, any one company, or even any one industry that will stay with me forever. His unrelenting humility, generosity, kindness, his openness to new ideas, how he always embraced thinking outside the box and beyond current limitations, and his unconditional love for his family inspire me to be a better person.

??????????Thank you, Bill, for the huge impact you’ve had on so many peoples’ lives. All of your disciples hope to make you proud.