What's in a mentor?
Throughout my life and career, I've been lucky enough to benefit from 4 seriously heavyweight mentors. This post is mostly for me, but if you can take inspiration from it, I hope you do.
People often miss the value of a good mentor and fair to recognise one when they contribute to your life.
So who are mine and what did I learn?
TLDR;
1) Dan Pass - Pay attention, you can't understand something you have not heard! And when it's your turn to speak, speak on the most appropriate level!
2) Craig Williams - tenacity and success comes from the mind and not the body. Conviction and success come from bettering yourself, owning your now, believing in yourself, making the first steps and continuing with purpose and drive.
3) Frank Williams - There are many ways to look at a problem, don't jump for the first one that comes to mind. Consider sitting back and looking for solutions that solve more than one problem. The best kind of solutions are solutions to problems that many people might have.
4) Wombat Williams - Quality is a conscious, living, breathing thing that can be so easily knocked out of position. If you are to maintain a higher quality in your work and life, every little detail deserves attention. Also, when you're good, you're good!
The longer version.
1) Dan Pass - the most phenomenally talented CTO and tech I've ever met!
https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/daniel-pass-4a99041/
Pay attention, you can't understand something you have not heard! And when it's your turn to speak, speak on the most appropriate level!
Dan Pass has some serious talent! He can understand every piece of technology intimately. He has the ability to sit back and visualise any topography, any system and can understand anything you want to talk about! Then, he can talk to anybody, at any level and make himself understood!
I have to admit, when I first met him, I thought he might be a bit of a sycophant (sorry Dan) and that there could be no way he could be that clever! But I quickly realised, nothing could be further from the truth. He really is!
The quality I failed to immediately recognise was simple and ultimately led me to develop a similar quality myself.
He takes the time to recognise everyone's level of understanding and makes sure he moves himself to their level and never expects them to understand him at his!
He takes the time to listen to everything a person has to say, regardless of their position, without judgement and without prejudice.
2) Craig Williams - author, ex-royal marine, personality and motivator
https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/craig-williams-3518032a/
Tenacity and success come from the mind and not the body. Conviction and success come from bettering yourself, owning your "now", believing in yourself, making the first steps and continuing with purpose and drive.
Craig is my brother and one of my greatest inspirations in life. A phenomenal success in everything he turns his mind to. He achieves seemingly impossible feats of endurance, commitment and determination all the time.
But as amazing as he is, believe it or not, he's a modest sidekick to his amazing wife, the duo save the lives of thousands of people at their residential Bootcamp team-bootcamp.com. They inspire and lead people to new ways of thinking, eating, living and moving.
Through watching Craig, I've learnt that simply getting started is all that's needed to move toward success. After that, make each step count. Stride with purpose, reflect, but don't let the past dominate you.
"If you carry a pack on your back and walk, you're carrying two pieces of luggage. The bag and the luggage in your own mind!"
3) Frank Williams - grandfather, scientist and strategic genius
There are many ways to look at a problem, don't jump for the first one that comes to mind. Consider sitting back and looking for solutions that solve more than one problem. The best kind of solutions are solutions to problems that many people might have.
My grandfather was the cleverest person I've ever met! His greatest trick was convincing everyone that he wasn't! But he was. I watched as he helped people in such a way that they didn't even know they had been helped!
I saw him set off chain reactions that helped each person down a line.
I don't think I'll ever achieve his level of vision to be able to plan and execute such interactions, but I've taken the fundaments to heart. There's always another way to view a problem and there are often approaches that can benefit more than intended!
4) Wombat Williams - My dad and a formula and aerospace engineer.
Quality is a conscious, living, breathing thing that can be so easily knocked out of position. If you are to maintain a higher quality in your work and life, every little detail deserves attention. Also, when you're good, you're good!
My dad took great delight in showing me that quality could be thrown off by the smallest detail. In his world, the thickness of a pencil mark can be the difference between a perfect fit or just OK!
A millimetre now could mean metres further down the line!
If you take the time to pay attention to the details now, they'll come together to make quality later on.
Then, when you're good, you're good! Your work will speak for itself!
Of course, at the time, I failed to recognise the value in the things I was learning from my mentos. Indeed, I didn't even realise they were mentoring me. But they were.
I genuinely believe that a mentor can be the difference between a good version of you and a great one!
When it comes to finding yours, look around, recognise the traits in people you would like in yourself, emulate the successful, understand what motivates, how they think and what makes them superhuman in their own rights!
So listen to my mentors, pay attention, take conscious steps, look at things from every angle and make sure you everything you do is quality!