Where the Magic Happens

I know you are a huge believer in mentorship, that's why you started Global Mentor Network. What role do you believe having great mentors plays in leadership and why is having great mentors so important?

Well, I think it comes down to another thing my mom used to say, OPE, Other People's Experience. First of all, she goes, "You learn the most from your mistakes. That's when you learn the most." But it's best to learn by OPE, other people's experience, learn from their mistakes, and she would go, "You have time enough to make your own." So to learn from people's experience, and especially their fears, their failures, and their flaws, that is inspirational to know that I'm not the only one who's terrified of public speaking. That's inspiring.

And when the chemistry is right between the mentor and the mentee, this magic happens. I've had great mentors in my life. I've had a lot of mentees. And I can tell you, it's a 60-60 deal, because the mentor learned so much from the mentees, and they're inspired by them.

Well, John Chambers of Cisco was your mentor for a long time.

For a long time. I mean, I couldn't ask for a better mentor. And it was right, perfect time, we had just taken Ariba public, and I'll never forget, he goes, "Keith, you can ask me any question, any question you want." And I did. I remember when I was going in, this has been about a year, we meet every month for breakfast. And I pop in there, he goes, "Keith, I know what you're thinking. I know what you're thinking." And I go, "John, what am I thinking?" He goes, "Why am I doing this? Why am I doing this?" I go, "As a matter of fact, I was getting ready to go, like why does John Chambers do this? I'm so lucky." He says, "I'll tell you why. You see, when I moved out from Boston, I came out from Lang. I didn't know shit from Shinola. And see, I had somebody mentored me. I had mine, God bless his soul. And I asked him, I said, 'Why are you doing this for me? Why are you doing this for me?' He said, 'Because somebody did this for me.' So Keith, all I ask is you do for somebody else." He goes, "And Keith, that is the magic of Silicon Valley."

And what a great inspiration. There's a great genealogy in terms of these mentor networks that have spread, you know, you can see it in Silicon Valley. I think you look at a company like Ariba, we spawned 10 public company CEOs, right? So it's a great thing.