My Mentor Unmasked Me

I’ve never really had a mentor before in life. This is something that I greatly regret. I’ve been a mentor to many, and I currently have a Delta GEM that I need to spend more time with. (She’s amazing, honestly, I’m not worried about her.) However, being in Business School has opened the door for me to have a Corporate Mentor to guide me through the process of school and success in the corporate world. My Mentor is a big-wig marketing executive at a big-wig company here in Columbus. He’s got experience in even bigger Consumer Packaged Goods companies and he really knows his stuff. He’s also a superstar at his current company that I once aspired to work for.

Yesterday my Mentor and I went to a networking event and we had some time to catch up. He was there for me when I was freaking out over my unsuccessful internship search and stressing over feeling inadequate. I tried my hardest during those times not to whine, but it was hard for me to hide my frustration. Well as I’ve blogged before my God stepped in and showed out and I was blessed with not one but TWO internship offers for two really huge companies. I then had the power to choose the best fit for me, things worked out.

I was really excited to share this information with my mentor, and he asked me a lot of questions to make sure I thought about my decision well before I made it. I told him how excited and terrified I was about starting as I fear (much like when I first started B-School) that I wouldn’t be smart enough. Then he said something that kind of shook me and left me feeling exposed.

“You strike me as someone that’s used to success, used to having it come fast and often, and this was the first time that didn’t happen for you so you freaked out. I knew all along it would work out for you, even when you didn’t get an offer from my company. Things always work out well, but in this case for you, it’s working out even better than that. They wouldn’t have hired you if you weren’t smart enough. You want it badly, you’re passionate. You’re already a step ahead of some of the people that work there. Deep down I know you know that.”

i just stood there, thinking “You don’t know my life!” Then I recalled in an interview that I had recently the interviewer said to me “I know you, you’re the Type-A type, like me, and you’re used to success, tell me about your failures.” It blew me because I never considered myself as “Successful”. I looked at my mentor thinking “I’ve failed all over the place!”

Wow. How spoiled and bratty have I been? I felt so exposed, and it actually felt ugly. I’ve taken advantage of all the many wonderful successes God has given me, and I’ve actually WHINED when I thought I was failing when in reality I was just being tested. FAIL!

I’ve been unmasked.

I’ve been a brat.

No more of that.

My mentor is super cool. Go get one if you don’t have one.

Posted 2 years ago