Mentoring

One of the beauties of getting older is making sense of our experiences. Our painful lessons of the past become the raw material for our future wisdom. And not just our wisdom but the insight we pass on to those in our lives. After all, wisdom is not taught, it’s shared. So, how might you package up your metabolized experience and deliver it as distilled compassion to someone younger than you?

It’s Wednesday, the day when the weekly, new episode of Ted Lasso normally drops. Alas, it ain’t dropping any more as, unless the show resurrects with a new name and storyline, Ted is no more. I had a serious cry when I watched the final episode at 5 am a week ago as I’ve long thought that Coach Ted was a model modern elder.

"Mentoring is an old practice revealing the inner nature and natural genius of youth, at the same time awakening the ‘inner sage’ in those who mentor....In days gone by, mentoring was linked to rites of passage in which a person becomes more conscious of the unique meaning and purpose of their own life. Initiations had two purposes:--- to introduce young people to the values and responsibilities of their immediate culture, and at a deeper level, to discover who they are, reveal the natural genius in the life of each young person. This "genius to genius" connection serves to renew a culture and preserve the imagination within it." - Michael Meade

During my seven and a half years of full-time and part-time leadership and advisory work at Airbnb, I was fortunate to be in more than one hundred mentor relationships. Often, I was a “mentern,” a mentor, and an intern at the same time. I was learning as much from these young folks (almost all Millennials) as they were from me.

For 36 years I have had the great role of 'explorer of the human condition.’ And the only person I report to directly is my curiosity.

Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, and the Google founders all had the same mentor, the late Bill Campbell, who was taken too early, as chronicled in a book called "Trillion Dollar Coach." And then you find Jobs mentoring Mark Zuckerberg, and Zuck mentoring Brian Chesky, all in a pay it forward, Silicon Valley ecosystem kind of way.

Women. Women have become more special in my life as I have become more comfortable in my own skin. And it's because of wise women I have been able to become who I am today. This blog post is a tribute to all those who offer wisdom and guidance.

Traditional Definition: “a person with whom one shares a secret or private matter, trusting them not to repeat it to others.” But in the MEA world, we define it as “a person who inspires confidence in you.”

As we age, we begin imagining what we will leave behind. When it comes to families, it may be our kids, extended family, or the way we’ve created memories for loved ones. When it comes to our communities, it may be the cleanliness of a nearby park or the strength of a Girl Scout Troop, two of our favorite volunteer activities.

I remember the first time someone called me a "CEO whisperer.” I had no idea what they were talking about. I don’t tend to whisper. On the contrary, my advice to young CEOs can often feel like it’s coming straight from a bullhorn.