Do You Have a Mentor?

I started Proforma. I grew Proforma. But the story of Proforma’s success must be shared with many people that mentored me over the years.

Do you have a mentor?

Do you have anyone who has been over the speed bumps you are going through and the speed bumps that lie ahead of you?

Fortunately, I was able to garner the wisdom of many successful people through the last 40 years of building Proforma. Proforma would not be where it is today without their input, advice and encouragement.

I needed mentoring. I still do. And if you aspire to become much more successful than you are today, you need mentoring, too.

Let me share a few thoughts about finding a mentor:

• No one that could mentor you is going to call you. You need to figure out whom you would like to mentor you and reach out to them.
• Mentoring doesn’t need to be some ongoing, time consuming activity. Some of my best mentoring happened in just one very powerful and transformative meeting.
• Most very successful people are happy to give back. Happy to share their wisdom. Happy to mentor others.
• Surprisingly, most very successful people are rarely asked to meet and share their wisdom.

So, if you want to get some great advice and mentoring, here’s what I would recommend:

1. Figure out with whom you would like to meet.
2. Learn about them. Know enough about them that it will be obvious to them that you have taken some time to learn about them.
3. Reach out and ask. Send them an email or give them a call. Tell them a few things that impress you about them, tell them where you are in business and what you want to achieve, and ask for a brief meeting.

You may be very pleasantly surprised at the willingness of others to meet with you and help. You will surely be even more surprised at how their words of wisdom can change, dynamically change, your future.