Id love to work with you for a day, a week, a month – I’ll do anything.” Tracy Britt Cool wrote to Warren Buffett. (Check out the article at the link below) She became Warrens protege... and in 5 short years shes now the newest female CEO in the Berkshire portfolio. Thats the difference between having a great mentor who coaches you and groom you versus trying to go at it alone. There is tremendous value in being a protege or an apprentice. Unfortunately, in todays highly materialistic world, where fresh grads from some local unis demand mid to high 4 to 5 figure salary packages WITHOUT any real work experience, just because they have a piece of paper from some uni, the spirit of apprenticeship and being a protege has largely been forgotten. You see, being an apprentice / a protege usually has much less material benefits in comparison. The biggest benefit they get is mentorship and guidance. Ironically, those who chase after the money early tend to get stuck in middle management or in mediocrity eventually. While those being proteges to the masters tend to leapfrog their way to the top and become movers and shakers in their industries. There is no guarantee of course. And no short cut either. You still need to find the right mentor. Work your socks off. Prove yourself. Make things happen. Etc. But so do the rest of the people in the world... and they dont have what you have - your ace in the hole: a mentor in your corner. They have to figure it out themselves through trial and errors, often slamming themselves against the concrete wall, unnecessarily. Wasting the most precious resources all of us share in common: time. At the end of the day, they might still not achieve what they want. Wasted time. Wasted effort. Wasted money... wasted life? Ive been asked many times by various people, Sant, you have the chance to do over, what will you do? Ive thought about it over the years, and my answer: I would have gotten started much younger - find the right mentor(s) and learn from them as much as I can, as fast as I can. There are just so much to do, so much to achieve and so much to contribute. Wasting time slamming on to concrete walls are just ridiculous. (Unfortunately, I wasted a lot of my early years away for various reasons. This is also one of the reasons why I hope to impact others positively and make a difference in their lives.) I guess at the end of the day, it comes down to what you want out of your life. If you want a simple, average, ordinary life, you dont need a mentor for it. Everyone is living that life. You can learn from anyone. But if you want to build something great, be one of the top and really make a huge impact, its much, much easier to have a guide - someone who has gone there and done that - to share their insights with you. I know it would have benefited me tremendously and cut short my learning curve significantly. Read this amazing article: fortune/2014/10/30/tracy-britt-cool/
Posted on: Fri, 28 Nov 2014 12:55:00 +0000
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