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Authors Note: I have been a mentor to many students in my thirty years in the corporate world. Many have succeeded both in life and business beyond their and my wildest dreams. This was one of the last and special. She had come from a humble background, escaping from a country in political unrest. She seemed like such a fragile person, but determined to make a difference, besides chocolate chip cookies are my favorite.
I was asked to write a review of a summer student who worked for me. I thought back on the last three months, I had this young persons help. A graduate student top two percent of her class, fetching coffee, taking notes at meetings, trying hard to follow direction and deal with the many menial tasks she had been given.
I reviewed the notes she had written for me. I had asked her to write down at least one thing she had learned every day. I asked her to write a detailed explanation of how it was she was able to stand and walk from end of the room to the other with out falling down and to defend her position. I also had asked her to design and have built a safety guard for a drill press, that would receive acceptance from the twenty tool and die makers that would have to use it.
I went over the many personal thoughts; I passed on to her about life and meeting the political demands of the corporate world. I spoke of the importance of being a contributor, that everything we have done and will do is based on something that was done by someone else and that it was our obligation to lay a foundation for the next person. To remember we are never correct, we are always wrong, it is easier to correct a mistake, than to defend one. I took her to meetings, pointed out the political incorrectness, let her feel the resentment of work leaving our manufacturing sites and going to low cost countries. I also took her to golf outings where she was the only student. I had our local golf pro give her instructions. I answered endless technical questions, provided my personal library and treated her as if she were my own daughter.
Now my job was to write a review of her performance. She had completed the assignments, actually learned how use auto cad in two weeks, two of my designers worked with her to get her through the rough spots, still I have people working for me who still have trouble using auto cad after two years. She was not able to get all of the toolmakers to agree on a design but she was able to organize a group that actually designed the guard for her and then built it. Her daily log was detailed and pointed out that I did not challenge her enough. Her essay was a clever sentence. "I am a human being, watch me." ***************************************************** This individual has the potential to offer a great deal to the advancement of this organization. She will challenge, question and perform. I recommend her to return next year. I would also recommend her to our management-training program. **************************************************** Today, I received a tin of home made chocolate chip cookies from India, where she is training would be engineers. A note that simply said, "to my favorite mentor, thank you."
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