I've had a ton of mentors, Thuy. I'm a big believer in mentors and the value and role they can play. And I had a really interesting experience early on like five, six years into my career that really shaped how I approach mentors. I was at IBM and they decided that high potential people should have a mentor. And so I was asked, who would I like my mentor to be? And I picked a gentleman, his name is Roland Harris, a couple levels above me who I knew and felt liked me. I picked him. Well, several days go by and I get a call and it's Roland, “Shellye.” I said, “Hi, Roland.” “Shellye, you put me down to be your mentor.” “And I'm like, Roland, yeah. I thought you liked me.” And he said, “Shellye, you've got me, go get somebody else.” I was like, oh, well, it was like a few things. I'm like, okay. I learned two main things on that day, one mentor mentees, it doesn't even have to be a formal relationship. I might have had other mentors that I didn't even know about. So that's one, two, I could have more than one. I could have as many as I wanted. And so literally over the course of my career, I adopted mentors all over the place because I told you I'm a big believer in taking help. A big believer in taking help. If life is hard, work is hard. I want as much help as I can get. And so, yeah, I just adopted mentors all through. And so I've had lots of mentors that have been very, very helpful and instrumental.
And let me just say one more thing about mentors, because many people think of mentors as the person who helps them think through their next job, their career path, all those kind what's going forward. And honestly they miss out on a huge value on mentors, which is to help you do the job you've got. Until you nail the job you've got, you aren't even up for those next set of promotions. So, whatever job you have, odds are like 99% that somebody else has done that job or something similar. And whether it's in your industry or a different industry, go find them, go find them, talk to them, understand what did they learn? What was good? What was bad? What was hard? What wouldn't they do again? And that way you start your job like on first base instead of home plate.
