1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:00,000 2 00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:25,500 mm hmm . So 3 00:00:25,510 --> 00:00:29,370 I've been a mentor uh for 4 00:00:29,380 --> 00:00:32,560 a great part of my career , but really 5 00:00:32,570 --> 00:00:35,840 began heavily mentoring about six years 6 00:00:35,840 --> 00:00:39,040 ago really , uh just thought that it 7 00:00:39,040 --> 00:00:40,960 was a duty and responsibility and 8 00:00:40,970 --> 00:00:44,160 obligation of mine to have an 9 00:00:44,160 --> 00:00:47,070 opportunity to sit down and and mentor 10 00:00:47,070 --> 00:00:49,237 and talk with people who are beginning 11 00:00:49,237 --> 00:00:51,181 their , beginning their career are 12 00:00:51,181 --> 00:00:53,340 looking for some uh some guidance and 13 00:00:53,340 --> 00:00:55,720 direction on what they want to do in 14 00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:58,300 their career next . And so another , a 15 00:00:58,300 --> 00:01:01,430 lot of formal mentor programs available 16 00:01:01,430 --> 00:01:03,430 across the Air Force , mine is more 17 00:01:03,430 --> 00:01:05,319 informal , I've got what I call a 18 00:01:05,319 --> 00:01:07,319 little crew , so I've got about , I 19 00:01:07,319 --> 00:01:09,400 don't know , 13 , 14 probably people 20 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:11,730 that I mentor over over the course of 21 00:01:11,730 --> 00:01:14,360 time . And so that's really where my 22 00:01:14,360 --> 00:01:17,410 heart is , is to uh sit down with those 23 00:01:17,420 --> 00:01:19,364 individuals and talk to them about 24 00:01:19,370 --> 00:01:21,537 their goals and figure out what we can 25 00:01:21,537 --> 00:01:23,092 do to help them meet them . 26 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:36,700 I 27 00:01:36,710 --> 00:01:39,730 get a lot of young people in in their 28 00:01:39,730 --> 00:01:42,560 career who come to me and and and asked 29 00:01:42,560 --> 00:01:44,782 me to be their mentor and they are bold 30 00:01:44,782 --> 00:01:47,130 enough to to first recognize that they 31 00:01:47,130 --> 00:01:49,352 need some assistance that this is a big 32 00:01:49,352 --> 00:01:51,574 business that we do and , and it can be 33 00:01:51,574 --> 00:01:53,797 kind of overwhelming and they need some 34 00:01:53,797 --> 00:01:55,780 assistance and then they are smart 35 00:01:55,780 --> 00:01:58,550 enough to listen to people who either 36 00:01:58,550 --> 00:02:00,880 recommend or they go and they ask their 37 00:02:00,880 --> 00:02:03,840 peers , hey , I'm looking for a mentor , 38 00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:05,951 I'm looking for someone to speak to , 39 00:02:05,951 --> 00:02:09,540 can you recommend someone to me and um 40 00:02:09,550 --> 00:02:11,661 a lot of people do that , they said , 41 00:02:11,661 --> 00:02:13,994 hey Wendy MS Waldon , I've got somebody , 42 00:02:13,994 --> 00:02:16,670 I think I want to mentor , I said fine , 43 00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:18,902 all they have to do because I want them 44 00:02:18,902 --> 00:02:21,013 to take a first step , see how really 45 00:02:21,013 --> 00:02:23,160 motivated they are , send me an email 46 00:02:23,340 --> 00:02:25,660 and and connect with me and then we'll 47 00:02:25,660 --> 00:02:28,180 set up a set up a session to talk and 48 00:02:28,180 --> 00:02:30,220 see if we see if we connect , but 49 00:02:30,220 --> 00:02:32,940 you're right , you have to be Bold 50 00:02:32,940 --> 00:02:35,620 enough to take that first step and ask 51 00:02:35,620 --> 00:02:37,900 the question and nine times out of 10 , 52 00:02:37,900 --> 00:02:40,090 if you ask someone to be a mentor , 53 00:02:40,100 --> 00:02:42,570 they will certainly at least sit down 54 00:02:42,570 --> 00:02:45,470 and have a conversation with you , 99% 55 00:02:45,470 --> 00:02:47,470 of the people that I know that work 56 00:02:47,470 --> 00:02:49,526 here work in leadership positions or 57 00:02:49,526 --> 00:02:51,692 even who are your , who are your peers 58 00:02:51,692 --> 00:02:54,026 want to assist you and want to help you . 59 00:02:54,026 --> 00:02:56,137 So just ask and you'll find some help 60 00:02:56,137 --> 00:03:02,850 out 61 00:03:03,440 --> 00:03:04,440 when I 62 00:03:04,440 --> 00:03:11,020 think 63 00:03:11,020 --> 00:03:13,370 about that , I don't think I was smart 64 00:03:13,370 --> 00:03:15,370 enough early in my career to go and 65 00:03:15,370 --> 00:03:17,940 find a mentor , but I was lucky and 66 00:03:17,940 --> 00:03:20,550 blessed enough to start my career uh 67 00:03:20,560 --> 00:03:23,670 with working with my dad and so I 68 00:03:23,670 --> 00:03:26,003 started working at kelly Air Force base . 69 00:03:26,003 --> 00:03:28,226 He worked at kelly . Air force base was 70 00:03:28,226 --> 00:03:30,448 still living at home , so we would ride 71 00:03:30,448 --> 00:03:33,240 together to work on occasion and he 72 00:03:33,240 --> 00:03:36,080 used those as opportunities to talk 73 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:38,390 about the job , talk about kelly , talk 74 00:03:38,390 --> 00:03:41,000 about what's expected of an employee . 75 00:03:41,010 --> 00:03:43,010 Uh you know , we used to talk about 76 00:03:43,010 --> 00:03:45,066 appraisals all the time and he would 77 00:03:45,066 --> 00:03:47,066 tell me , you know , just coming to 78 00:03:47,066 --> 00:03:49,343 work is enough to get you a , You know , 79 00:03:49,343 --> 00:03:49,160 back then we got numbers was a medium 80 00:03:49,160 --> 00:03:51,940 45 . If you wanted something different , 81 00:03:51,950 --> 00:03:54,290 how you have to work uh , to achieve 82 00:03:54,290 --> 00:03:56,401 something other than just the minimum 83 00:03:56,401 --> 00:03:58,910 uh , appraisal . So he was really my 84 00:03:58,910 --> 00:04:01,420 first mentor , my dad , but then when I 85 00:04:01,420 --> 00:04:03,780 think about some of the trainers that I 86 00:04:03,780 --> 00:04:05,891 had , because I came in on a training 87 00:04:05,891 --> 00:04:08,002 program , not only were they training 88 00:04:08,002 --> 00:04:10,360 me but they were giving me insight in 89 00:04:10,360 --> 00:04:12,416 what it took to be a good employee , 90 00:04:12,416 --> 00:04:14,471 what the culture of the organization 91 00:04:14,471 --> 00:04:16,638 was , how I fit into that . So , those 92 00:04:16,638 --> 00:04:18,582 individuals , even though I didn't 93 00:04:18,582 --> 00:04:20,693 realize it at the time , served as my 94 00:04:20,693 --> 00:04:22,749 first mentors . And then later in my 95 00:04:22,749 --> 00:04:24,749 career I got a little smarter and I 96 00:04:24,749 --> 00:04:26,971 began reaching out , looking for people 97 00:04:26,971 --> 00:04:29,027 who could give me advice on what the 98 00:04:29,027 --> 00:04:31,249 next step of my career should be , if I 99 00:04:31,249 --> 00:04:33,416 should take some training or that sort 100 00:04:33,416 --> 00:04:35,582 of thing . And then I was lucky enough 101 00:04:35,582 --> 00:04:37,749 to have people reach out to me who saw 102 00:04:37,749 --> 00:04:39,971 something in me and then uh ask if they 103 00:04:39,971 --> 00:04:42,160 could have periodic conversations with 104 00:04:42,160 --> 00:04:44,382 me and serve as my mentor . And so it's 105 00:04:44,382 --> 00:04:46,438 been a little kind of a hodgepodge , 106 00:04:46,438 --> 00:04:48,327 hodgepodge , I've gotten a little 107 00:04:48,327 --> 00:04:50,438 smarter over the years and actually , 108 00:04:50,438 --> 00:04:52,549 you know , got uh did some work to go 109 00:04:52,549 --> 00:04:54,493 out and find my own mentors when I 110 00:04:54,493 --> 00:04:56,716 wasn't smart enough to do that early in 111 00:04:56,716 --> 00:04:56,250 my career .