What If you could have a famous mentor

[Music]

have you noticed

how we feel more inspired in the shower

you should have said this or it could

have done that or you begin to think

and wonder and solve problems

so once upon a shower i was thinking

about our college graduation

as a member of the class of 2020.

because her graduation got cancelled

due to covet 19 a few of my classmates

were just so disappointed and i was

trying to figure out if i could solve

the problem

i then formed an idea that in the moment

was quite simple but

ignited a movement a movement that

you can benefit from everybody can not

just a class of 2020

and benefit from it both personally and

professionally

a movement that will allow that spark

that you have inside of you

to stay lit and grow just like it

happened to me

after i got involved this idea the

mentorship culture

which asks the public to embrace

helping and guiding others as a way of

life

no matter the circumstances so

still in the shower i thought to myself

not walking across the stage is

unfortunate

that’s true but actually

we’re the luckiest graduating class on

the planet

we had oprah sarah blakely tony robbins

malala selena gomez lebron james

tom brady and tim cook as their

commencement speakers

each of these celebrities recorded

videos of themselves and

shared their messages with us because

they felt that they had something

significant to tell us and not because

universities had invited them this time

i mean who wouldn’t want that some of

the most remarkable people as

our commencement speakers they were

proud of us

and challenged us to rise up as leaders

and solve this crisis

well that sounded so awesome and

inspiring when was the last time we

solved the crisis

many in the graduating class were only

high school graduates they were just

starting their lives so i thought

what if these stars these celebrities

could become mentors

of recent grads so i proposed a

mentorship challenge through a video on

instagram

in the video i called the commencement

speakers to become mentors

maybe to someone that went to the same

school that they did or

someone had a really inspiring story and

they wanted to help them

but the real reason i called our

commencement speakers was so they could

set the example

and share their mentorship success

stories with us

so that they could inspire us to the

same

i truly believed that this mentorship

challenge could help a lot of people so

i asked all of my friends their families

and their families friends to share this

video

it had over 2 000 views on the first day

and then i thought about other forms of

media

and i would love to say that they

reached out to me that they came to me

but that was not what happened i

compiled the list

of 50 news channels and newspapers with

their phone numbers and email addresses

i sent them all story request or an

email and called a few of them

and out of the 50 one answered

the local news channel in tampa florida

said yes

and i was so happy that was my chance to

make this happen

with this interview we got the message

out to celebrities and a lot more people

and

i could just see another brick being

laid on the foundation of this project

and then my family gave me the idea to

create a similar challenge

in portuguese to my home country brazil

and sure enough to my great surprise two

brazilian celebrities accepted the

challenge

bernardino the most successful coach in

the history of volleyball

and edulire who grew up visiting his dad

in prison

and is now the ceo of a visionary social

project

called genome focus or creating falcons

in english

which seeks to find an end to poverty

and

this idea kept expanding well what if

these stars these celebrities

and just also everyday heroes could

mentor a lot of people

not just one mean to each so i created

the mentor me series

on instagram where i conducted live

interviews

with people who had reached incredible

heights including dr p berardi

a former navy seal commander and 911

first spotter

these everyday heroes broadcasted what

they did

as mentors and the importance of people

who helped them

to achieve their goals and then more

people decided to the same

and we had these awesome conversations

that

served as a form of invisible mentorship

that’s when you learn by observing and

following your examples

and i received such great phone calls

and text messages

with people telling me their plans to

help and mentor other people and

in this process i’ve learned

that a culture of mentorship is much

more than people helping each other

it is the way to help us

create a more human self-sufficient

sustainable and even profitable world

and here’s how we can do it i just want

to share two ideas with you

first to create a culture of mentorship

we need mentors who are willing to

impart their expertise

who are willing to stand up and

recognize that mentorship

needs to become a priority and the

biggest thing that you can do as a

mentor is to share your story

tell us what it was like when you went

off to college and you had

no idea which major to choose and

graduated a semester late

tell us about that time and you took a

bold step and asked for a promotion

tell us what it was like to live away

from your family

by telling your story you’ll be sharing

your wisdom

with someone else and then once you tell

your story

be willing to invest in them and engage

with them

as a mentor you can be a cheerleader a

coach or

even a parent figure whatever role you

play whatever story you share

know that you’ll be helping yourself as

much as

or even more than you’ll be helping them

human resource professors and

researchers gauche and rayo

conducted a math analysis about

mentoring that was published in the

journal of vacation behavior

in this study they compared mentors to

non-mentors in terms of

job satisfaction organizational

commitment turnover intent

job performance and career success and

they found

that mentoring is reciprocal and

collaborative

not a one-way street as was commonly

perceived it leads to greater career

success the mentee

and the mentor statistically

according to a five-year study conducted

by gartner

in capital analysis mentees

are five times more likely to be

promoted

than those without mentors and mentors

themselves

mentors are six times more likely to be

promoted

the second idea is directed mainly to

the mentees

which are all of us go out

look for mentors and ask questions

but you gotta be asking the right

questions

the best way to explain this idea is by

sharing a story told by harvey mckay

a monk was strolling through a garden at

a zen monastery

listening to music he stopped near

another commotion for him to

remove his earbuds what are you doing

the second one said i’m listening to

music and meditating

reply the first do you have permission

from the master to do this

yes of course

i find it hard to believe that the

master would allow you to do such a

thing

i was denied this very privileged just

yesterday

how did you raise the question with the

master

i approached him and said i’m meditating

in my walks in the garden

is it okay to listen to music and he

replied

absolutely not

that’s odd i approached the master and

said

i’m listening to music during my walks

in the garden

is it okay for me to meditate and he

replied certainly

if you think about it questions

can be more powerful than the answers

here’s what i propose be prepared

and ask the right questions

there is a big difference between asking

i want to learn how to code can you

teach me

and i want to learn how to code because

it seems like it’s a very demanded skill

nowadays

i read that in your field the most

common programming languages are python

java javascript and html which one did

you learn first and how did you do it

the more specific you are the greater

the opportunity for a more meaningful

relationship

we may be hungry for better answers but

the first step is asking the right

questions

think about it according to the

federation of small businesses

seventy percent small businesses that

receive

mentoring survive for five years or more

that is double the rate compared to

non-mentored entrepreneurs

so if we all do this if we’re willing to

become

mentors and invest our time and if

you’re willing to become mentees

and ask for help by asking the right

questions

here’s what a mentorship culture would

look like simply put

and you may have heard this before but

sometimes

you need a hand sometimes you’re there

to give a hand

it works best when both are willing to

reach i need it

you know when i had this crazy idea in

the shower to

calm celebrities i was not gonna do it

i was so afraid that

people would call me crazy because who

do i think i

am to reach out to celebrities i’m just

an international student that came to

the u.s age 16

by myself and got through school with

the help of a lot of good people

and volleyball and academic scholarships

simple me

just me and then

in spite of that fear i decided i was

going to do it

was going to be taught to the

celebrities

what changed everything changed

after i talked to a mentor who believed

in me

mentorship is about lifting each other

up it’s about planting seeds it’s about

creating a spark in the lives of others

that spark of hope is exactly what

unites massive action

which can change the world for the

better

yes mentorship takes hard work but if

there is a

possibility of creating this culture of

mentorship

wouldn’t it be worth it

get yourself a mentor or maybe even more

than one

call them message them connect with them

be prepared and remember ask the right

questions

and mentors just share your stories and

reach out

you’ll be planting seeds in your own

fields too

i want to share one last statistic

according to a forbes article in the

corporate setting

seven to six percent of people think

mentors are important

but only 37 have one

let’s change that let’s create a culture

of mentorship thank you

you