I have been blessed in my life! I'm not a man of physical riches. Yes, I live comfortably and am able to provide for the needs and wants of my family. I grew up in a family that had a lot of love! Even though we live hours apart, we make time to get together at least twice a year - this has grown to include my nieces and nephews, their respective spouses and my great-nieces and nephews. Of course their are disagreements - but at the end of the day, we are family and I'm a better person because of my family.
My mom, dad and brothers and sisters were my first mentors. Being the youngest of six children, I did not lack direction from my elders growing up! While I may have fought against some of this, they taught me right from wrong, they taught me about responsibility, they provided my moral foundation, and, yes, they let me know when I was wrong!
Between high school and college, I had the good fortune to actually work in my dad's business. This was my first office job - having delivered papers and worked in fast food restaurants prior to taking on this role. My dad showed a lot of patience with me as my attention to detail was not quite where it needed to be in those days. All that said, I learned a lot from working with my dad. His work ethic is impeccable, his fairness to others can not be challenged. My dad has always been my role model - in some ways I'm his clone (ask anyone who knows us), in other ways we are different. I have never had the patience my father has, but he was the first one to call me out and I've continued to work at this my entire adult life.
Throughout my professional career, I've been fortunate to have people that cared enough to help lift me up and help me to learn things that I did not know. These mentors have made it possible for me to succeed! They have made me learn lessons that I didn't necessarily know that I needed to learn or was to stubborn to recognize where I may have been making a mistake.
In fact, at one point, I was lucky enough to have 3 mentors at the same time: Beth Gritton, Jim Haddad and Art Christofferson - CIO, COO and CEO of McLeadUSA Publishing during the late 90's and early 00's. To state that I learned from these individuals would be an understatement. They never let me doubt that they trusted me, they were never afraid to let me make changes, they actively threw new challenges my way and gave me the support needed to succeed, even when I did make mistakes.
Beth took the time to show me the difference between being a manager and being a leader - lessons I still strive to understand today as I work with my teams. I have a strong tendency to react to what my team members are telling me about situations that need to be resolved and then inserting my view of the solution on them. Beth taught me to slow down and allow individuals to walk me through their issues as they see them, ask them questions and allow them to discover solutions, and support the direction that they want to take. That doesn't mean I sit back and let it all just happen. She also taught me how to understand when those decisions are material and when they are not. Letting people learn on projects and decisions that are not material and ensuring that the right support is in place when a decision is material and can impact the organization.
Beth was never afraid when I disagreed with her and would allow me to challenge her (note: if you're going to challenge your boss, do it behind closed doors and do it respectfully). When I felt I had a different way to tackle an issue, she would let me get my thoughts on the table, she would help poke holes in the solution I was presenting and more times than not, she would let me move forward with the recommendation.
Jim and Art were incredibly valuable as I learned from Beth. They both had open door policies and let me come in and 'chat' at any time. Both always expressed confidence in my abilities and let me know that they respected the skill-set that I brought to the organization. They never once cut a conversation off because they were 'too busy'. They would let me ask any question and they would always answer it - they never hid from the issue. In fact, in one instance I know I went to Jim with an issue that I did not feel I was capable of solving. Jim never hesitated, when I was done explaining the problem, he asked me how much it was going to cost to solve the problem and told me that he had faith that I would resolve it in a way that was a net positive for the organization.
Beth, Jim and Art allowed me to change the way that my teams worked within the organization and in how they supported the rest of the team. They held me accountable, but did so in a way where I was able to flourish, grow and become something greater than I imagined. I will forever be thankful for the experience to work and learn from these individuals - the ultimate mentors!
If you'd like more information on my background: LinkedIn Profile
