Be all that you can be

Look at most people that have achieved great success and you’ll probably find a great coach or a great mentor.  As a culture steeped in the ethos of success, its surprising really that we don't’ put more emphasis on and greater value for coaching and mentoring.  Think about some examples:  Dr. Martin Luther King, mentored by Benjamin E. Mays. Warren Buffett mentored by Benjamin Graham. Bill Gates who would later be mentored by Warren Buffett.  We marvel at the success of Steve Jobs, who had several mentors, including Robert Friedland and Andy Grove.  Jobs himself would become a mentor to Mark Benioff.

These relationships were not about just teaching. They were about inspiring.  As the great poet Robert Frost said of his work, “I am not a teacher, I'm an awakener.”  Mentors are about awakening us to be, as the slogan goes, all that we can be.  Few do this job better than renowned mentor David C.M. Carter, who now shares some of his secrets in Breakthrough.

My conversation with David Carter.