Three Thought Thursday

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Dear Reader,

It felt strange, but there was no other way to put it.

"Will you be my mentor?"

It felt like all the noise in the coffee shop had disappeared, but it was just another Friday in Holland, Michigan, when I asked Kevin to be my first-ever official mentor.

Years later, I have been blessed with many incredible mentors because of asking that initial question.

Recently, a college student asked me a similar question to the one I asked Kevin.

I went to my mentor, who advised me to say yes.

Now, I find myself in this funny fraternity family line feeling situation of having a mentor mentor me, who gets to mentor someone else.

This experience led me to do a deep dive into all things mentors.

Mentors—that's the theme for this Three Thought Thursday.

Winter Into Wisdom

Isn't everyone's goal to have a plan after college graduation…especially if you're a Division I athlete? Not for Billy. Billy Oppenheimer was a Division I lacrosse player who decided that his post-graduate plans were not to go pro or lock in a lucrative job, but to "chase winter." He would spend the winter months in the Northern Hemisphere skiing and snowboarding while spending the summer months in the Southern Hemisphere skiing and snowboarding. One winter, Billy found himself out in Colorado when an author he admired was putting on a conference: Ryan Holiday. Billy, without buying a ticket, found his way into a situation where he was face-to-face with Ryan and asked him if Ryan had anything he needed help working on. Billy gave Ryan his email, and after a few weeks of nothing, Ryan responded. Six years later, Billy is now the famed research assistant for the modern-day stoicism writer. A simple conversation led to free work, an internship, and now a full-time job. Ryan may be Billy's boss, but he's also his mentor. Beyond that, Ryan's mentorship allowed Billy into rooms and relationships he could have never imagined. As I wrote in a previous newsletter, he got to pick up Ryan's mentor, Robert Greene, the famed author of "The 48 Laws of Power,” from the airport. In that car ride, Billy received the most important advice he'd ever received: to have an interest in boredom without outcome. That wisdom is now driving Billy's first big-time book publication. Because of Ryan’s mentorship, Billy gained access to Ryan’s mentor, who granted Billy wisdom that transcended a single mentor-mentee relationship.

Mentors create trees of other mentors, which create transcendent wisdom.

The Broke Finance Guy

He was broke and hopeless. Even more contradictory, he had just landed his first job out of college at Ramsey Solutions, the company run by Dave Ramsey, who is, bar none, the most famous financial advisor in the world. Well, maybe outside of Suze Orman. George Kamel was conflicted. He was so excited to work at a cool, innovative media company that seemed to align with a lot of his interests, but he was also embarrassingly in debt and felt like an imposter working under Dave. George worked hard and climbed up through the ranks under Dave's tutelage. One conversation changed it all for George, however. Dave caught wind of George's indebtedness and addressed him about it. George was anticipating immense embarrassment but was met with encouragement instead. Dave encouraged George to be vulnerable and share his story of being in debt and working out of it. George followed Dave's advice and went on air. George told his story in his most famous episode ever, and listeners absolutely loved it. The episode propelled George to become the number one personality on the Ramsey team.

Mentors provide outside context you wouldn’t otherwise receive.

The Oracle’s Oracle

The Oracle of Omaha. If there's one figure of business that has become a household name worldwide, it's Warren Buffett. Would you happen to know about his mentor? The man who initially did not let Warren be his mentee? When Warren was young, he read "The Intelligent Investor," Benjamin Graham's masterpiece on investing. Warren was in awe, and when he got to the age, he enrolled at Columbia Business School to learn directly under Benjamin. Warren approached Benjamin, asking him to be his mentor and work under him to get a position at Benjamin's firm. "You're too expensive at zero," Benjamin replied (speaking of Warren’s offer to work for him for free). Imagine hearing that. Warren's hero had just rejected him, and it couldn't get worse. Free was too expensive for him. It was a test. Warren knew that, and he dove into the books and studied and learned the requisite skills needed to provide actual value to Benjamin. He kept on pursuing Benjamin and corresponding with him until, eventually, Benjamin gave him a job at a modest salary at his investment firm. Warren had to earn Benjamin’s respect and meet the high standards that he set. The bar was raised, and whether or not Warren knew it, he eventually reached it.

Mentors set high standards that fuel the determination to meet them.

If you have a mentor, text them, thanking them for all they do.

If you don’t, make this letter your call to action to find one.

I promise they will change your life.

See you next Thursday,

Tommy