Wise Words from my Mentor

A few years into starting my business, I was having a meeting with our senior auditor and going through our financials for the year. He said a few sentences to me that changed the way I ran my business from then on.  “You need to get out of the engine room and go and stand on the bridge for a while” he said, referring to the bridge of a ship, “start spending more time thinking strategically about your business.”

Rodney, who I had never referred to as my mentor until then, was wise, straightforward and could pinpoint something that one was unaware of.  Until then, I had been working non-stop, involved in every aspect of the business, driving it forward and hardly stopping to see where we were going. We were hectically busy, and I was driving it hard, but without a strategy or plan of where we were heading. It was true. I was shovelling coal in the engine room and hardly had time to poke my head above the deck.

Rodney then asked me where I could go to do some thinking about the business. He said, “Go anywhere, but it needs to be out of the office. Go and sit in a sauna or something.”

That meeting had a big impact on me, and I left it reflecting on what he had said. I was so caught up in the business, as well as our young family, that I didn’t have any time left to think where I wanted to take the business.

So began my journey of taking time out to think more strategically. In fact, I’m not sure I did a lot of thinking in a sauna, as he suggested, but it did give me an excuse to get out of the office and the house. I think I did most of my thinking with my running shoes on, either jogging or going for a walk. He triggered a point, though: that I did need to step back from the business and think bigger. I needed to step away and create a vision for the business.

By taking time out of the office either for a run or a massage at the spa, it gave me the chance to breathe and step out of the engine room and onto the bridge occasionally. And yes, it really did help me take our business further.

Rodney was a wise mentor. I will be forever grateful for his words when I needed them most!

What wise words has your mentor imparted to you?