The mentors in my life

“Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning stays young.” ― Henry Ford

TMOD, fellow toastmasters and guests. Good Evening.

Learning never stops. I truly believe in this statement. I have always been a protégé all my life, always learning from my elders.

Mentors are different from coaches. What you learn from coaches helps you to achieve short term objective (Football coaching). However, the lessons that you learn from mentors are for the long term and assist you throughout life.

I am highlighting a few from whom I have learnt a lot and the lessons that I have learnt from them.

My first mentor is my mother. She has been home maker. I come from a joint family where all my uncle, aunts are and cousins used to stay under single roof. My mother was taking care of all her siblings as well as we children 24/7 without any complaint. My mother is fondly called by family members as Annapurna as she was focusing on food to everyone who comes home. I have witnessed many euphoric moments in the presence of my mother. Whenever I had any problem now also first I take my mom’s advice. She always advise me to take time to decide and not decide in a hurry.

 

I learnt sincerity and the importance of a family from her.

 

My second mentor is my brother. Just two years elder to me, he is like a Guru and guiding spirit all thru my life. He was always making checklist, planning for the simplest travels and always having sense of humour whenever he was doing a serious job. I try to emulate his footsteps in all thru my life. If I am able to be a systematic person it is because of the shades from my brother.

 

I have learnt systematic and steady approach from him.

 

My other mentor was my uncle. He worked in a school for more than 35 years.  He used to support and extend possible advice to everyone in the family. He enrolled me to do CA course once I have completed my graduation as Topper in the college. Further he kept checking my progress on each visit. He was happy by looking at my progress. He left us for heavenly abode 4 years back leaving us from his Midas touch. He was revered by most of my school mates as well as our village people.

 

I learnt from him that you should find joy & happiness in practicing empathy, simplicity and sincerity.

 

On the professional front, one of my mentors was my Manager from The ACC Ltd, India. He has given me free hand to manage my staff of around 15 senior people who are of the age of my father, I was just qualified as CA and joined ACC as Asst. Manager Finance. My boss advised me to be kind with the people and by setting individual goals with a supportive environment I could successfully face many of challenges that poured on me.

 

I leant management skills from him – you could get out work from people, by being kind and having empathy.

One of the toughest mentors I had was the COO of my past employer in Ras Al Khaimah, where I had worked for couple of years. He had very high standards and expected all the employees to live up to them, else leave the job. He himself was a fighter, having survived many difficulties in life, and had been part of Dutch military for some time. However, if you managed to survive, you were rewarded with huge bonuses and increments.

He taught me that if you want employees to work out of their comfort zone and constantly be perfect then monetary reward is a must. Then only will the employees be loyal to you.

One of my present mentors is my boss the GM of the company where I work. I noted that among his other qualities, he tries to ensure that his juniors develop themselves personally & professionally. One thing I noted about him is that he looks at the big picture. Another trait of him is loyalty to his employers, where he had spent over 35 years and more than 5 years in his present position.

 

I learnt form him that you can gain the loyalty of your employees if you encourage their self-development and participate in their personal and professional growth.

I will conclude by saying – not everyone is lucky enough to have mentors who can guide them through life. We can keep learning by observing fellow human beings and people around us. You have all taken a very important step in life by joining toastmaster’s journey wherein we can learn many new things and how to express our self in public.

 

Let us keep learning & stay young throughout life.