Who were my mentors and who do I look up to?
There are the obvious (and true) answers like my mom and some of my speaking colleagues, but to be honest there are three people that I truly am grateful for their guidance while growing up. My dad left when I was 12 so he wasn’t there for those formidable years, the teen years.
The three men who I believe helped me become who I am, and without knowing it continue to come back into my life as mental reminders of how I should act and react to life, are the following:
The High School Principal - Ric Hodgson. I have mentioned him before, but he really was THE best person to have in my life. I didn’t graduate high school but still received a world-class education. My principal always had my back and believed that I was going to be okay. He had a way about him that was welcoming and kind. He built his school like an entrepreneur builds a business. It’s what education lacks today. He treated the students as his customers and wanted to create an environment that they wanted to come to. He stood every day at the top of the stairs and talked to students as they arrived. He knew them by name, and he had inside jokes with many. He was always impeccably dressed, and he put students first. He married my wife and I. He had had me at his home 20 times as an adult and always attends the BIG events that we run at YLCC. He was in the front row at the
Global Student Leadership Summit and he was there in the front row for my last school speech in 2017. He’s long retired but he continues to be someone I hope to be like.
The Maintenance Man - If you read anything I write, you know that summer camp was a really big part of my upbringing. I often say it’s the one single MOST important decision my mom made. It changed my life. Now there were amazing counsellors like PJ, Bubbles, Bill and my Camp Director, Sue Dickson, who were STUpendous positive influences on my life but THE most influential was
Chip the Maintenance Man. One summer after I completed the one-month CIT program at age 13, I wanted to come back to camp. My mom didn’t have any money to pay for another session so Sue (our Camp Director) said if I wanted to be Chips assistant I could stay for another month. I became the camps one and only MIT (Maintenance In Training). I got to drive around in Chip’s pick up, learn how to use a hammer, help fix the canoe racks, and learn how to drive a motorboat. And the best part was the lessons he taught me about being kind and working hard. I will never be able to put them into words. I don’t know what happened to Chip, only knew him that one summer, but will be forever grateful.
The Camp Director - Rob Hemming is my real estate agent and camp mentor. Rob was a camp director for years and turned to becoming
the agent in camping if you wanted to buy or sell a camp. When
YLCC was homeless and the camp we had rented for years was sold, Rob became my fast friend. He tried to find us a camp to rent. Even though he didn’t at the time, he later on helped negotiate the purchase of the current camp property we have on Lake Simcoe. He also helped us buy Pigeon Lake, our second camp, and eventually sell it for more than we paid. He and his wife also helped us financially with a loan when we were growing and trying to expand the business. More than all of that, he was always there - and still is - to listen, to give advice and show how much he cares about ME. When my brother passed away, I remember looking into the large crowd of 600 plus people and seeing him and his wife, Grace. They drove a long way to be there. We didn’t spend any time together, we didn’t talk, they simply smiled and let me know that I wasn’t just a client. It's how I hope to make the people I work with feel.
You need to find good mentors in life. You need to share your wisdom with those that you can help. I know for a fact that these three kind men have been the father figures I am grateful for and the ones I needed. There are more that have been there for me like Bill, Ralph, Mark, Alvin and others, but these three helped me at different stages of my life.
My hope is that one day, I will have been that to someone else.
