David Wilt
Dr. Wood
Leadership 2301
13 February 2017
The Impact of Mentors
Throughout life everyone has the people they look up to and learn from them to put into their daily lives. Throughout my life I have met three mentors that have truly impacted me, they have shown me so many things about life and has allowed me to learn more about myself through them. I had the privilege to interview my mentors who are my mother, my favorite high school teacher, and my current boss at Petco. With all their kind words, I have learned that as a leader I am a caring and honest leader who cares for everyone’s needs, making sure they feel comfortable and happy where they are in the current situation and life overall.
When I asked my mentors what my strengths where they were all related to people skills and being honest with others, with that response I feel the exact opposite with myself. Growing up with social anxiety I feel that my actions have never truly shown that I can carry out a conversation with another human being. With the situations I put myself in I adapt myself to it, whether working at a retail establishment interacting with customers or working on a group project I need to be able to learn from each situation and meet other people’s needs. Realizing this I have learned that I have somewhat an adaptive leadership style, making sure everyone is ok with the situation at hand. “They do this by ensuring that their organization has the capabilities, processes, and culture necessary to have one foot in the present and the other in the future” (Govindarajan, Adaptive Leadership 101). Govindarajan has demonstrated that adaptive leaders always think of the future of their followers and looking out for them, this is one of my main priorities with my leadership. I may not believe I have the social capacity to bond with others, I have learned to be able make everyone feel like they belong and cooperate with each other to be useful to the group.
When I asked how I would describe myself at best, my mentors all motioned that I can carry out a conversation and try and see the best in people. I feel this is one of the main factors that makes me a great leader. Without communication in leadership it would make it hard for others to seek the goals you are intending to accomplish and may not motivate them to get the task completed. “David is a partner who is responsible, carries himself with a positive attitude and he drives the engagements of our customer interactions. His shifts helped to drive our customer promoter scores to their highest levels.” My manager Heidi mentions this about me and makes me believe that I made an impact on the store. Although I was not in a leadership position during my time at Petco, I could make a huge impact on the store by communicating with the customers and being able to listen and find what they needed out of their time with us. Seeing that I can communicate well with others I feel that this must be a call to my vocation, being in a position to cooperate with employers and meet their needs.
Throughout my life I have never believed I was a leader, I was thought of myself as a follower because of my role as being more of a caregiver. Once I asked my favorite high school teacher Holly to describe my leadership style made me realize I am a leader, she said “I saw you step up for people who needed someone to give them a voice and I also saw you encourage those that just needed a little push.” Realizing that I was able to speak up for others when they couldn’t I wasn’t just the caregiver of the group; I am the voice for others. My leadership style is to listen to others and give them a voice in the current situation or implement their thoughts into the decision even though they may not want to share with the group. Whether someone is quiet or likes to speak up, they are always included into the conversation and will be heard to benefit the group.
Throughout my life I have never truly thought of my future, always feeling like I’ll go where the wind will take me. I am always thinking about other people’s future instead of my own, wondering how my decisions will impact their lives. My life has never truly been a priority for me, I have always looked at things in the present and how I can change other peoples lives. My mentors all saw something different in store for me, whether it was being a stronger man or dedicated to work, I saw myself not looking into my career or myself in general, I was looking into myself thinking about the people I will impact over the next few years like who my family will be a whether I am truly there for them. This is where I realized I may not have a vocation of just being a manager for information systems, I feel my vocation is being a family man, making sure my family has all the right tools to be successful and can come to me if they need help and the care that they need. Wherever the wind may take me, I hope the people around me have found a place that makes them happy.
As someone who looks how to improve other lives, the one thing I have always struggled with is my happiness. When I asked what I could do better two of my mentors mentioned that I need to take care of myself. Holly says this “It’s so important to care for and help other people, but I don’t think you can do that if you aren’t also taking care of yourself and your needs.” If I cannot take care of myself through tough situations how could I get others through their situations? The personal self is guided by other role expectations outlined by family life, economic functions, community, and many other diverse ecologies” (Bressi, Reconsidering Self Care). Sara K. Bressi describes that ones personal life affects their professional life, for me to help others I need to first help and understand myself.
This is something I need to improve on,but I believe the best way to improve myself is to cooperate with others and grow together rather than alone. One person cannot develop on their own, they need influence in their lives from others. Working together with a group can lead to development, not just in the follower, but the leader themselves. We all learn from each other and that is how we become who we are.
Without my mentors, I would have never realized who I am, thinking I am someone who is quiet and just follows orders. All of these people in my life have seen a different side of me, my manager has seen the working side, my teacher has seen me as a student, and my mother has seen me as my normal self. I always thought no one knows exactly who I am, but now I know even though I show a different side to others, they all see me for who I am. My vocation may be different from what I intend it to be, whether I look at my calling from God to be a family man, or continue in my field in MIS. No matter what happens in my life I know that I am someone that will look out for others and continue to make an impact on other lives instead of mine. My mentors have shown me how much of an impact I can make on the world, we all need mentors to influence us. As much as they teach us, they mold us into who we are, and for generations to come we will influence the rest of the world hopefully revealing their vocations to create a better and happier world.
Bressi, Sara K. "Reconsidering Self Care." SpringerLink. N.p., 25 Jan. 2016. Web. 17 Feb. 2017.
Govindarajan, Vijay. "ADAPTIVE LEADERSHIP 101." Govindarajan - 2016 - Leader to Leader - Wiley Online Library. N.p., 8 June 2016. Web. 17 Feb. 2017.