By Molly Wylie
A UMass Boston graduate student shares career lessons she’s learned by interviewing leaders in the field of aging services for The Mentor’s Voice podcast. Here’s Part 2 of Molly Wylie’s musings.
“The Mentor’s Voice” podcast, produced by LeadingAge, has given me the chance to have candid conversations with leaders I may never have met otherwise.
Going to school in Boston, I was familiar with LeadingAge member organizations in New England. But, thanks to the interviews I’ve conducted for The Mentor’s Voice, my mentor connections now stretch far beyond my own academic home. I have a growing group of mentors—what I like to think of as my “kitchen cabinet”—in a variety of locales, from major urban hubs like New York City to smaller Midwestern towns that, until recently, I didn’t even know existed.
SHAPING PASSIONS IN PERSONAL SETTINGS
By sharing stories about their own mentors, the senior living executives I interviewed taught me that mentorship comes in many forms, and that passions and aptitudes are often shaped in personal settings, many times at home with family.
Julie Thorson, president and CEO of Friendship Haven in Fort Dodge, IA, told me that as the daughter of a coach, she knew that one day she wanted to be the “head coach” at an organization like Friendship Haven.
Dan Reingold, president and CEO of RiverSpring Health in New York, watched his father serve as president and CEO of a senior care organization which was, in Dan’s eyes, “the best job in the world.” Dan, knowing the value of his parents’ master’s degrees in social work, went on to pursue the same degree, in addition to one in law, in order to best represent nonprofit organizations.
Kelly Papa, vice president of strategy and community life at Duncaster in Bloomfield, CT, comes from a family of teachers and educators, so developing training programs in large health systems came naturally to her.
EFFECTIVE MENTORSHIP COMES WITH LISTENING
When I asked mentors what they do every day at work, I expected to learn about technical skills one can only build in a formal training program. Leading a nonprofit organization undoubtedly requires proficiencies in a whole host of skillsets. But, it turns out, the most important part of an executive’s job is to listen.
Most of the mentors I interviewed echoed a sentiment worth remembering: You may do a lot, but that doesn’t mean you know a lot. Listening to others’ stories and wisdom is a key facet of the C-suite executive job.
Lou Woolf, president and CEO of Hebrew Senior Life in Boston, MA, encourages young professionals to listen in order to learn, and to take in all of the available facts to avoid reaching premature conclusions. In our conversation, Woolf referred to this practice as “servant leadership,” a willingness to defer to more knowledgeable team members and provide them with the tools they need to be effective.
Dan Reingold wishes he knew more about financials, but admits that his organization’s chief financial officer serves as his mentor in this area. Melissa Andrews, president and CEO of LeadingAge Virginia, expressed gratitude for a mentor who both encouraged her to pursue a leadership role and also helped discover that her skillset was primarily in advocacy, not in operations. Andrews credits her mentors at LeadingAge with seeing her talent and potential, and allowing her to grow from entry-level employee to executive-level leader.
SOLID ADVICE
I listened carefully to the stories these mentors told me, and walked away with many recommendations for success. For example, I now have a growing reading list, including In Pursuit of the Sunbeam, Ditch the Drama, and Elderhood, with a Joan Rivers book thrown in for good luck. In addition, mentors gave me this solid advice:
When thinking about my dissertation—and, more broadly, about my career—choose something that excites me personally and drives my future employment in the right direction.
Say “yes,” accept opportunities, and realize that most of us, even if we don’t show it, are afflicted by imposter syndrome. By recognizing the power of our insecurities, we can perhaps harness our own potential for good.
Maintain perspective. Our careers, though a major outlet for our time and passions, are only one part of our lives. As committed as we are to our work, we can’t forget what else matters: our hobbies, family time, volunteerism, and travel.
Kelly Papa described just how much perspective we can gain from listening to others around us, especially in the midst of tragedies and hardships. After the Sept. 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center, a Duncaster resident put his arm around Papa and said, “Honey, I’ve lived through a World War, and a couple of other wars. We’ll be just fine.”
Molly Wylie is a third-year Ph.D. student in the Department of Gerontology at UMass Boston. For more of Molly’s mentor lessons, read Lessons Learned from a “Kitchen Cabinet” of LeadingAge Mentors.