A TWO-WAY STREET

[CROWN COUNCIL]

Here is something that you may not have realized. It is that someone is constantly watching you and learning from your experience. If you think of it for a moment, you will realize that your everyday performance is to a great degree the result of what you have observed other people are doing. The people from whom you have learned are your close associates, older family members, and to some extent the people you have read about and perhaps watched from a distance.

This is to say that everyone who is valued to any significant degree is a mentor to those who observe him/her. As you go about your daily routine, you collect information about how to be more proficient in the things you do. Like it or not, while you are choosing mentors, someone is observing what things in your daily pursuits he/she wants to take into his/her life-pattern and which he/she will reject.

Here is an accompanying idea. Whenever you pay attention to someone, you are also giving
value to that person. Knowing that the observation is taking place helps to add to that person’s
self-esteem and helps him/her to be more committed and to do a better job.

So there you have it. You are being mentored by those you observe, and you are being a mentor
to those who observe you---like it or not. It’s a two-way street, and that’s a very good reason for all of us to be the best we can be on a full-time basis.

Gregory B. Anderson–director