“I think the ability to reach out and take advantage of someone else’s experience and advice is very important for anyone, regardless of age or experience, but particularly those just entering the field,” Doolen says.
“Without this interaction of the inexperienced and experienced, how will the inexperienced individual be able to understand the idiosyncrasies and reasoning of the multitude of work tasks before them, be able to envision where their contributions fit within the organization that hired them and the overall industry landscape, or know how their present efforts can and are preparing them for the future?”
When You Know
Chuck Wilson, executive director of NSCA, may have been ineligible for CI’s “40 Influencers Under 40” coverage, but he’s still active on both sides of the mentor-mentee relationship. He fills his calendar with opportunities to mentor young professionals at integration firms, consulting firms and manufacturers.
Meanwhile, Wilson continues to learn from his own industry mentors. He recently quipped that he had been talking to “my only remaining, alive, mentor that I had in the industry,” a 78-year-old integrator who launched his firm in 1958. He went on to reflect on a lesson that he took away from that conversation that clearly had him enthusiastically rethinking how to educate clients about their new systems — something his mentor had realized was effective after five decades in the business.
More: NSCA Courts Tech Students at Integration Business Survival Conference
It seems like it’s the folks in the industry who take the time to mentor others who end up getting inspired.
“I have been privileged to know — or have known — a great number of individuals that cared and took the time to work with me throughout my career,” Doolen says. “The advice they gave was not ‘answers for the masses,’ but given only after they listened and understood what was being discussed. Some of these interactions were short and one-time events, but many developed into long-term working relationships and friendships for both me and them.”
For mentors, there’s no downside to what Doolen describes. The rewards for mentors, he adds, are incalculable.
“As newer generations and outside individuals come in to the AV workforce, they bring new perspectives. Some of these perspectives need recognition, encouragement and further development. By listening, caring, and trying to understand, we so-called ‘experienced individuals’ often become the individual being mentored, learning a great deal from that new person.”
In that case, everybody wins — especially the industry.
Find Out: Do Young, Tech-Trained Professionals Want a Career in AV?
