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
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