In the last few weeks my professional mentor, Rick Muzyk retired. Even though he announced his retirement many months ago, somehow I always expected him to call one day and say “Just kidding!!”. As the reality of Rick’s retirement sets in, I have been thinking a lot lately about how I have benefitted in my career from mentorship and how invaluable it is to anyone at any point in their career.
I have been very lucky to have two key professional mentors in my life, Rick Muzyk and David Rae. The interesting thing, to me at least, is that these two gentlemen could not be more different in personality, style, approach and strengths. However, I had the opportunity to work with each of them at two different stages of my career and benefitted greatly from their guidance and wisdom.
The Early Years – David Rae
I met David Rae on the day I started my “career”. I was a 19-year old Co-Op student who moved to Ottawa to do a work term. David had joined the firm a week before I did, so although there is over a ten year age difference we bonded over being the “newbies”. I really was still a kid when I started out, and didn’t really know much about anything (although I sure thought I did!!).
David is reserved, detail-oriented, and methodical in his thoughts and actions. For those of you that know me, you know reserved, detail-oriented and methodical have never been used to describe me.
On the surface you might think that we would have a hard time relating. Luckily, from a personal perspective we both liked to shoot pool and have a beer or two after work so we quickly became friends. Around the office, David also had a passion for developing people. David would bring me in to sit in on client conference calls so I could get a “flavour” for client communication and management. David was also the first person to let me “shadow manage” projects by helping me work through the basics, but also letting me try different things in a controlled environment. One of the most vital things David taught me was the need to surround oneself with colleagues that have complementary skills in order to succeed. David valued me for my differences and helped me to grow as a result.
David and his family moved to New Brunswick in 1997. He stayed with our firm so we still stayed in touch, but we did not have an opportunity to work together much from that point on.
In 2001 when I got married I was honoured that David made the trip all the way from New Brunswick to stand for me at my wedding in Ontario. Recently on a business trip to New Brunswick, David and I had a chance to grab a beer (well, maybe more than one) after having not seen each other in a number of years. It was as if no time had passed since we last raised a glass.
The Middle Years – Rick Muzyk
As I continued to complete my undergraduate degree and work for the same firm, my main focus was continuing to develop technical and project management skills. Once I had developed a solid technical base, I decided that I wanted to shift my career more into client relationship management and sales, which is when I met Rick.
Rick’s and my association dates back to September of 1999 when I was manning a tradeshow booth at a real estate conference in Toronto. Rick, who recently joined the firm as our Vice President, Real Estate was in Toronto and came by the booth to check out how we were presenting ourselves to the market. We instantly hit it off and the rest as they say is history.
Whereas David and I from a pure personality perspective were almost opposites, Rick and I were cut from the same cloth. We are both passionate, energetic, driven, client-focused people. In some ways I am surprised we were able to be in the same room together without it running out of oxygen!!
Over the past twelve years I have learned so much from Rick, too much to even begin to list it all here. His business knowledge, passion, enthusiasm and vision have not only inspired me, but they have pushed me to grow, learn new things and develop as a professional, a leader and a person.
In Retrospect
I consider myself so lucky to have had the opportunity to work with David and Rick, and to call both of them my friends. I am not a big fan of clichés, however, looking back at my career I am constantly reminded of the old saying, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear”. Had I met Rick at the beginning of my career, or David later on, I likely would not have connected with them the same way that I did, and I wouldn’t have benefited from the guidance and leadership that they shared with me.
I am sharing this story to encourage anyone to seek out a mentor and give yourself over to their guidance and teaching. I cannot thank David and Rick enough for helping to make me the professional and the person that I am today. I owe them both more than I can ever repay.
Thanks for reading. Please connect with me on Linked-In (be sure the mention the blog) and follow me on Twitter (@billroth13).
Bill Roth
“The Success Junkie”
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