Your Mentor's Mentors

Become the person you want to be. Not sure who that is? Find a mentor and learn from their influencers.

The entertainer Usher explained that two of his mentor's mentors were Gene Kelly and James Brown.

One of my medical mentors was Dr. Bill Baker, Chief of Cardiology and a former Associate Editor of a major heart journal. A 30-something patient was admitted overnight with chest pain and Captain Baker presided over "Morning Report" a Socratic teach session. He asked the presenter, "what diagnosis do you think is most likely?" The resident replied, "coronary artery disease." Dr. Baker answered, "you fellas fish those waters pretty hard." 

What he implied was consider 'base rates'. In a younger population, other types of heart disease - cardiomyopathy, myocarditis, and pericarditis, and non-cardiac causes including chest wall pain, esophageal spasm, and acid reflux would be more likely. 

You might ask Coach Celli who his volleyball 'influencers' were and study their methods and teaching. My primary basketball mentor was former Melrose AD Sonny Lane, whose local basketball mentors included John Killilea and Sam Jones. But he also took major influence from legendary coaches John Wooden and Dean Smith. 

We had a framed poster of Coach Wooden's "Pyramid of Success" in our team room. Note the cornerstones were industriousness (hard work) and enthusiasm. The core included conditioning, skill, and team spirit. And flanking the top were "faith" and "patience" meaning belief and time. 

Learn all you can from every coach you have, including what not to do. 

Lagniappe. Every action you do should 'advance the story'. Create great habits. 

Lagniappe 2. Coaching is teaching. Be thankful for your coaching.

Two teachers can teach the exact same lesson and get completely different results. The variable? The teachers’ passion and creativity.

The power is not in the program. The power is in the magic the teacher brings. #multiplyexcellence

— Emily Paschall (@EmilyAPaschall) July 6, 2023