Who are your Mentors?Several years ago I had the opportunity to spend two days with Dr. Myron Tribus, in Atlanta, Georgia, as part of an American Bar Association meeting on Quality Management. Dr. Tribus, a pioneer and leader in quality concepts, served as the former Director of the Center for Advanced Engineering Study, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Tribus, in his early 70’s, discussed who his teachers and mentors are today. He noted that his teachers today are the Deming Prize winners in Japan. Dr. Tribus, an obviously accomplished individual and expert is still being mentored! Who are your mentors? A mentor is someone who has a positive impact on your life. A person who’s thoughts, ideas, beliefs and concepts have strongly influenced your attitudes and your actions. Often, a mentor will help you to view the world from an entirely different perspective. A mentor will help you to see yourself in an entirely new light. You feel a new sense of personal potency, a heightened sense of momentum, and a strong sense of purpose as positive impacts of your discussions with your mentor. Mentors renew and revitalize. How do you know if you come into contact with a potential mentor? Here are some signs: someone stops and makes you think; someone recharges your mental and emotional battery; someone motivates you to seek out more information; someone has been a spark for a positive change in your life; someone causes you to become reflective and introspective for a period of time. Seek out your mentors. They become firm anchors in a sea of turbulent change, cynicism and negativity. |