I have truly had instructors that turned me off to a particular career, and likewise I have been lucky enough to have had instructors that were so excited about what they taught that the excitement was kindled in me to look in this new direction. Is excitement and enthusiasm enough to inspire my students, or should I include the potential financial benefits of certain careers in Health Care?
Hello David,
Your last comment is so insightful. People sense your sincerity and value ... so they will go out of their way NOT to disappoint you.
It is not unconditional respect, but it is pretty close!
Hello Mark,
A campus that consistently shows the students that their success and well-being is foremost throughout all the departments, is a campus that will hit and exceed the key indicators. You had a good mentor!
Rich, though you may not have recognized his level of concern, I would venture that you enjoyed his class ... and learned a great deal! (?)
Wendell Stephenson, a history professor at my university, inspired in me an appreciation for history and how it impacted society then and will continue to do so in the future.
It was a lecture class (probably 300 students)with assigned seats! Dr. Stephenson was almost blind; led into the lecture hall, he spoke from a memory that was lucid and filled with beautiful stories. Students would volunteer to read to him in his office ... it was like being a clerk for a Supreme Court Justice!
He only gave essay exams, which were not always easy! When midterms were ready to return, he insisted on passing out the "A" papers and saying something to the student. I had the good fortune to step into the aisle and have Dr. Stephensen hand my paper to me and discuss the key points that made the paper meaningful.
An intelligent heart ... a mentor ... a role model ... one who expected good work and prasied it! And he could not even see my face!
My main mentor would be one of my teachers when I was in High School. The energy and caring this teacher had for his students impacted my learning. I wanted to learn because I did not want to disaapoint him.
Thats so true and takes a big effort and time to realize that (sometimes people never realize it)
Christopher,
This is a great example of mentors. One thing that caught my attention was when you said "They.....help me when I open up in an honest way and am able to receive their wisdom without being defensive." The key is when you opened up and that allowed you to receive their wisdom. The mentor appears when the student is ready.
Anthony,
This is great advice, thanks for sharing. This is very similar to the theory of "Tell them what you are gonna tell them, Tell them, then tell them what you told them. It is repetition that works.
Greetings Christopher,
Daniel Goleman opened a door when he did further research on EI. His books can be very uplifting and educational; good choice!
Lou Anne
Craig,
This teacher sounds like not only a great mentor for you, but he was also an intelligent heart.
Leslie,
What a great mentor! Too often we don't follow our heart and end up in careers that don't support our personality. John Holland (personaltiy theorist)said, and I quote this often, that if our personality does not meet our career, we we will not be happy. No matter the terrific hours, the money, travel opportunities, etc. Our personalites must match our career. Your mentor had a good understanding of the importance of this. How wonderful you had such a caring mentor!
Lou Anne
My first mentors were my parents, which I recognize sounds cliché. My mom, a children's librarian, taught me to look beyond a person's presenting personality and outer shell. She exposed me to people of different cultures, backgrounds, and disabilities and, encouraged me to learn to celebrate our differences as well as our likenesses. My dad, a salesperson, taught me to greet everyone and to treat everyone equally. He also taught me that the individual who took the time to come into the establishment was the most important person. They both taught me to take responsibility, be honest and to have pride in any task I'm asked to do. For undesirable tasks like taking out the trash, my dad made up a song which made doing the chore fun (and one I still sing today).
Their teachings have had a great effect on my career as an educator and as a counselor. I try to treat everyone fairly and equally, and to be as positive as I can be. My positive attitude and fairness has made me popular with the students and one that I see them trying to adapt to in their very hectic lives.
I didn't always grasp the concept or the importance of these behaviors at first, but later I have come to reap the blessings. So, too, have the students, who upon graduation day have thanked me for pushing them to do the right thing, be responsible, do the daunting task, and push to be better.
Having them as good mentors has made it easier for me to follow their lead and to strive to be a good mentor myself.
Its really hard to find a real mentor in life (personal and business) and I've often found I need to have more an indirect "mentor" whom I observe, interact with and get feedback from. I've run my own businesses for years and seeking out Board members, investors and others not connected have helped me build a circle of people who can provide advice and encouragement. They know me personally and help me when I open up in an honest way and am able to receive their wisdom without being defensive. I found the hard way that when I am humble and embrace their thoughts I receive much more and I try to be the same with others and not to judge or criticize. Its hard work and means a different orientation and I really like the emotional heart perspective. Recently I've read some great books about Emotional Intelligence (Daniel Goleman, Dr henry Cloud etc) and they summarize much of what we need to be successful. I recommend these books as they have helped me see how much more there is to performance than just being good at numbers, strategy or what we often think a leader should be.
My mentor has always been my mom. She has a very successful career and is always willing to give me sound advice.
When I first started my teaching career, one of the best pieces of advice I received was from a young training manager; he said to always go over the good points of any event or topic of discussion first. Make sure to also hit the sour points but then end on a good note as well.
Starting and ending with positive overtones is a great motivator and although I sometimes loose sight of that advice, it really does work like magic!
My physiology was the best teacher I ever had. He was a military veteran that I looked up to as a student. Because of his ability to teach and reach all students, never talk down to them and could reach all of us we wanted to be there and wanted to be engaged into the class. Because of him I witnessed for a whole year what is meant to be a successful teacher. The rest seemed like they were there for the schedule, money and could care less if any effort was required on their part. When I started teaching I made sure I followed his model and did the opposite of all the poor teachers I have had.
Charles,
This is a good point, however we (as mentors) do not want to make those we are mentoring feel any pressure. We simply need to lead and assist them into success.
Once I realised that someone cared enough about my success or failure to mentor me, it added pressure on me to succeed. I knew that they were giving up their time to help me, so I'd better make sure that I invested more than enough time and effort on my part to succeed and not let them down.
David,
This is a very good point. There may be times that we had a mentor but didn't realize it until years later. This simply make the point stronger that we should always be aware of the fact that our students see us as mentors most of the time.
