Mentorship & "Gifts From Others"

I recently was a guest on Daytime Peel TV and I was given the opportunity to discuss the importance of mentorship, who some of my mentors were and what it takes to be a good mentor.

Plus I also spent some time chatting about "Gifts From Others"

See you on the court!

Follow me on Twitter @TheAudman

What I Learned From Coach Wooden

Anyone who's followed me for even a short time would know that I'm a big time fan and supporter of the lifetime work of the former UCLA coach, John Wooden.  His on court achievements of coaching milestones and records will probably never be reached by anyone ever again, let alone broken.  He was heralded as "The Wizard of Westwood" and while his remarkable accomplishments still leave many in awe until this day, I'm a much bigger fan of  his work off the court and the things he did to help grow the basketball players charged in his care into responsible high character individuals.

Coach Wooden was a wonderful writer who shared his life's work through the written word and had authored several books in relation to coaching, leadership and character development.  While I can't profess to have read all of his books, his very last one written just before he passed away in 2012 was probably the most impactful to me.  The book was dedicated to the art of mentoring and entitled, "A Game Plan for Life".  It spoke to me so much that it ended up being the inspiration and central theme for my own motivational quote book, "Gifts From Others".

"A Game Plan For Life" highlighted an important point in relation to the words and actions of others. You see, Coach Wooden spoke fondly of quotations from people like Abraham Lincoln, Mother Teresa and others who's words served as an inspiration to himself.  Essentially proving that a mentor can be anyone who's words of encouragement or message of hope inspire you to be better. Quite simply, the words they've left behind are precious gifts to be cherished.

While I never had the opportunity to meet "The Wizard of Westwood" myself, I feel fortunate to have interacted with individuals like Don Yaeger, Steve Jamison, Pat Williams and Andy Hill.  All of them have had personal and dealings and connections to Coach Wooden and continue to keep his legacy alive through their own work.  On that note I thought that it was fitting that I share a collection of 16 lessons I learned from my mentor, Coach Wooden:

1) Self improving never stops and can span our entire lifetime;
2) There's much power and influence in the written word;
3) Our daily lives can serve as motivation to others;
4) You don't have to have physical contact to touch people;
5) Wholesome knowledge doesn't have an expiry date;
6) Never discount the value of putting in a good effort;
7) Take responsibilty for those charged in your care;
8) Character character character;
9) The final score is the least important part of the game;
10) Anyone in life can serve as your mentor;
11) True love never dies;
12) Good character is at the heart of a good person;
13)Your approach to life remains constant;
14) Learning never stops regardless of your age;
15) Never ignore the fine details;
16) Always take responsibility for your actions.

See you on the court!

Follow me on Twitter @TheAudman

Janet King of Kids Now

Kids Now is a youth mentoring organization based out of Toronto that equips youth with essential life-success skills that enable them to make positive choices, increase their self-awareness, confidence and communication skills. With the right skills and dedicated mentors youth have the power to reach their full potential.

Created by a Canadian educator, Janet King, who saw a need to complement the existing school curriculum with life skills development, kids.now has a proud tradition of helping youth, their families and communities.  Since 1999, kids.now has empowered more than 11,000 youth across Canada, in more than 1,000 free after school in-school group mentoring programs.  Mentoring-based programs like kids.now are widely recognized as contributing to strong, safe and healthy communities.

Janet joins HCL Radio to discuss the program and the impact that its had on today's youth.

Kids Now is aimed at grades 7 and 8, the ideal window of opportunity to teach youth key life skills they need NOW, before problems start to arise, to avoid dropping out of high school or getting into trouble and endangering their future income and employability.

As a past volunteer of the program, I recognize its value and impact on our young people which is why I'm donating a portion of the proceeds raised from the sale of my latest book, "Gifts From Others" to Kids Now.

Click here for more information.

To learn more about the program or find out how you can become involved, please visit http://www.kidsnowcanada.org

HCL Radio - Where developing leaders is more then just a game!

See you on the court!


Follow me on Twitter @TheAudman

7 Worthwhile Things I Learned From My Mentor

I'm a big fan of mentorship and I've spoken about it on numerous occasions. I've also had the privilege of interviewing real topic experts like Steve Farber and Don Yaeger.

I was most recently reminded about the importance of mentorship to my personal development when I had a long overdue telephone conversation with someone who had mentored to me.


Terry and I hadn't spoken in close to ten years from my days when I was employed with Service Canada, a department in the Canadian federal government. When we re-connected, it didn't take me very long to remember how much of an impact she had on my growth.

We chatted for over an hour and ended the conversation with a commitment of doing a better job of staying in touch with one another in the future. I immediately began reflecting on our relationship from the moment the phone beeped to signal the call was over.

It was through this thought process I discovered seven key things that made our relationship so worthwhile:

1) Not one sided

A typical mentoring arrangement involves a more experienced or knowledgeable person imparting insights and guidance to someone with less experience.

When Terry and I first met, I was fairly new to government and didn't know very much about bureaucracies or how to navigate through policies and procedures to get the work done.

She had several years of work experience under her belt and had pretty much seen it all before. I, on the other hand was quite comfortable when it came to technology and was always trying to develop systems to help us be more efficient.

This was an area that Terry wasn't as strong in and a way was immediately opened a way for us to learn from one another. I felt as if I was also making a positive contribution to the relationship and not just taking. It was mutually beneficial.

2) Anyone can be your mentor

A mentor doesn't have to be someone in a position of leadership or authority. They definitely have the potential of offering a good learning opportunity but that doesn't necessarily mean that it'll be the best.

While a boss, supervisor or manager can offer a meaningful experience we can gain knowledge or insights from virtually anyone we come in contact with as long as we're open to learning the lesson. This is why I absolutely love the expression,

"Always learn, learn all ways!"

3) Genuine Caring Leads to Authentic Kindness

I don't think its possible to have an effective mentoring relationship if there isn't some level of caring that exists. In my case, I knew right from the onset that Terry was genuinely interested in my well being and wanted the best for me. This was important to know because it allowed me to have complete trust and faith in whatever direction or guidance that came from her.

4) Recognize Greatness

At one point during our conversation, Terry said, "I saw so much potential in you and all I've ever wanted was for you to be a role model to others."

Because mentors have an objective view of things, it's far easier for them to see our individual greatness then for us to recognize it ourselves. Terry not only recognized what I was good at but she also put me in situations where I could maximize skills and build my confidence at the same time.

5) It's a relationship

Being in a mentor/mentee relationship is no different then any other relationship we have in our lives. In the beginning, you've got to commit the time to learn about the other person and understand their likes, dislikes, interests and desires before you can think about trying to help them.

When both sides have a better understanding of each another, the opportunities for growth and development increase. She took the time to understand me and knew how to best help me to succeed.

6) No Structure Needed
There's lots of companies that have structured mentorship programs that come complete with a detailed matching process, a prescribed meeting template and a roles and responsibilities agreement that both sides must adhere to.

While these programs can provide some amazing opportunities for learning and growth, they don't all have to be structured in that fashion. The most lasting mentoring relationships are the ones that have organically developed in the absence of a formalized structured program.

7) Pass it on
Terry eventually moved on to a new position and we stopped working together thus ending our "formal" relationship however we still remained in touch for a bit. I eventually went on to manage a program that gave me an opportunity to mentor more then two dozen young students that were brand new to government over a course of a three year period.

They were all really eager, keen and anxious and I saw a lot of myself in many of them. This compelled me to work hard on creating a positive work experience that supported their learning and development, empowered them to make decisions and offered different viewpoints to help increase their perspective and understanding.

I essentially gave to them what was given to me.

I'm still in contact with many of my past employees today and proud of their professional accomplishments and the type of individuals they've grown to become. I was truly honored this past summer when one of my past "mentees" asked me to MC her wedding.

Knowledge and insight are great things to have but even better when you give it to others. To grow as a leader, you must be prepared to take all of your learnings, lessons and experiences and pass them along to someone else.

In Closing...
Our actions or how we choose to live our lives can serve as mentors to others. In fact, I truly believe that the greatest lessons we learn in life comes from the people around us, thus making the role of the mentor that much more important.


If an opportunity presents itself and you have a chance to be that difference maker to someone else, I would encourage you to step up and embrace the role. Helping someone become better then what they were is a true leadership skill that can have lasting effects.

Thanks Terry!!

See you on the court!

A Game Plan For Life

The topic of mentorship has always been important to me. While working with the federal government, I was a project manager of a student recruitment program that hired post secondary students for the summer to help them gain valuable work experience.

I was in role for approximately five years and took it very seriously. With a large number of the students hired never having worked before, it was important to me to ensure that their first experience was a positive one.

It may not have been included as part of my job description but I knew that I was their mentor.



Several months back I was contacted by a writer who was doing a piece on mentorship and was asked for my thoughts on the topic.

In my view, the role of a mentor is very similar to that of a teacher but with a slight wrinkle.

The traditional model of a mentorship relationship has a more experienced and perhaps wiser individual imparting knowledge to a less experienced person.

The thing with mentoring that many don`t realize is that it can happen anytime or anyplace and isn`t designated to a monthly time slot or a discussion over lunch.

Our actions or how we live our lives can serve as mentors to others.

As we learn in John Wooden`s book, A Game Plan for Life, it`s even possible for us to have mentors who we`ve never met.

The book is broken down into two parts. Coach Wooden identifies the seven mentors who had a profound impact on his life in the first half.

In the second half, he then shares stories about seven people whose lives he helped shaped. One of those seven is Bob Vigars, an elementary school teacher from Canada who life was profoundly impacted by Coach Wooden.



Oh yeah, they`ve never met before.

My good friend, Don Yaeger co-authored A Game Plan for Life and joins me on the next episode of HCL Radio to talk about this very special project.

Listen as Don describes how this book came to be.

In addition, I`ll also be joined by Bob Vigars who shares exactly what Coach Wooden has meant to him.

Here part of what Bob had to say.


Thanks for reading!

Making You Greater

When 11 all-star centre, Shaquille O'Neal was traded to the Miami Heat at the end of the 2004-2005 season, the former first round draft pick made two promises to Heat fans.

He committed to help the franchise win its first championship title and he vowed to do everything in his power to make their young star player, Dwayne Wade an even better player.

Shortly after being traded Shaq said during an ESPN interview,`I want to make him the best guard in the Eastern conference, no forget that, I want to make him the best guard in the game.`

The Big Aristotle took all his knowledge and experience from his championship title days in LA and poured them into the guy he nicknamed, Flash.

Shaq made good on his promises as the Miami Heat became the eventual champions and through the process, Flash was the Finals MVP.




O`Neal may not have realized this but he had subscribed to a leadership philosophy simply encapsulated in three simple letters.

G T Y

The Greater Than Yourself concept is based on the premise that great leaders become great because they cause others to be greater than they are.

It`s also the title of Steve Farber`s book.



Steve Farber is a leadership expert, author, speaker and guest on the next episode of HCL Radio.



As Steve describes,`ìt`s a person that you`re going to invest yourself in to raise them up above you.`

Visit the Greater Than Yourself website for information how you can become involved or check out the GTY Project group on LinkedIn.

Tune in to HCL Radio - Where developing leaders is more than a game!

Click here to listen to the entire interview with Steve.

Thanks for reading!