If You’re Committed to your Development, a Mentor is a Must

Mentors are essential to our development. Over the last 2+ decades, I have been fortunate to have a number of great mentors and guides. Sometimes the lessons being learned are obvious in the moment and others take time to reveal themselves.  My career choices have presented a wide variety of leaders in my life that have pushed me, challenged me, and taught me every step of the way.  I’d like to take a few minutes to acknowledge them and share some of the lessons they have imprinted upon me. 

  1. Bob Howell, Founder of Howell Management - I first met Bob as a grad student attending Stern School of Business at NYU and then I later joined his firm. First and foremost he taught me to challenge the #’s coming out of traditional accounting systems to understand customer and product profitability.  It’s amazing how little companies knew about the customers and products that were not profitable. He instilled an interest in me to understand the money streams that flow inside every company. Where does it go? What creates profit? What drives known and more importantly unknown costs.   On a lighter note,  25 years later, I fold my shirt sleeves inward as a Bob was prone to do when he was at the front of the room driving one of his captivating lectures or seminars.
  2. Robert (Bob) Gunn, Founder of Gunn Partners - I met Bob when he and Bob Howell decided to merge their consulting firms and join forces. I thought I’d be discarded by the side of the road as a young consultant who didn’t fit their experienced model and message. But Bob supported me, pushed me and challenged me. It wasn’t easy and as my wife would attest there was a moment when he pushed me and I said ‘I quit’. Fortunately, the resignation email never left Outlook. In fact, 18 years later I still retain that email in my outlook draft folder. It serves as a reminder to hold tight and sleep on big decisions.   He led all of us with his ‘Value Based Billing’ mindset. Rather than just bill hours, he advocated, putting forth a bill that stood for the value that we delivered to customers. Many a CFO struggled with it but the message was clear, We won’t bill for activity. We’re going to charge for outcomes. I have been focused on outcomes ever since.
  3. Jim Madden, Former CEO of Exult – He gave me responsibility for an industry defining sales pursuit and helped me organize how we would work through negotiating elements of this $700+ million contract.  The customer requested I take the lead on a deal after losing faith in our sales person, Jim didn’t waiver. He gave me the football and backed me up the entire way.  Hands down one of the most defining moments of my life. Jim taught me to organize complex negotiations and to not be afraid to take on new opportunities. I’ll never forget preparing my first negotiation grid or rather, ‘value grid.’
  4. Kevin Campbell, Former COO of Exult – Kevin joined Exult to help us mature as we were readying to go public. Of all the names listed, he is one of two where we formally entered into a mentor / mentee relationship. Ground rules were established and formal meetings were set. I will always appreciate the willingness on Kevin’s part and some of the tacts he took to help my development.  He had strong points of view and two things that I’ll never forget:
    • 3/ 2/ 1/ … In 3 years the work of 2 can be done by 1; a guiding principle in all our outsourcing deals. I may not follow the model but it has given me the conviction to believe that smart people can hit aggressive targets in the future even when the path isn’t clear or known today.
    • The bold ‘red’ emails.  We were losing money and the street wanted to see a profit. Kevin sent every email in ‘red ink’ to his team and vowed to not switch the color until we were profitable. Everyone knew the priorities and rallied around it. We were elated when we finally received emails in green. 
  5. Mike Smerklo, Chairman and CEO of ServiceSource - There’s probably no person who I had more up and downs with than Mike. The reality is now that I am leading a company, I find myself thinking of many of our exchanges; the big battles and the small ones; the direct lessons and the indirect ones.
    • Now 11 years after my start with Mike, I launch our week much the way he did. Our first meeting every Monday is centered around customer satisfaction and supporting metrics. It drives our actions for the week and keeps our organizational compass focused on our customer.
    • While every person mentioned in this posted has helped me evolve as a person who can drive business - yes that means ‘sell’. None was more pivotal than Mike. He prepared unlike any other, he focused on the small details, he remembered what books customers read or what teams they cheered for and he believed in the ‘buy process’ and invested in the tools, processes and people to bring this to life. My sales abilities and skill in helping grew immensely under him. 
  6. Jeff Bizzack, President of ServiceSource - Jeff became my manager as we were readying to go public. Absent Jeff I don’t think I would have ever appreciated what it meant to create processes that scale. While working as a member of Jeff’s team, I lead the development of our Customers for Life program. A program I am 100% confident was essential to ServiceSource stepping out as a public company.  He challenged me to think about the processes that were in place and could they be executed consistently by the company or did they come down to the heroic efforts of one or two people - ‘heroes don’t scale’ was a common refrain. He was right, 'heroes' were carrying us and we made appropriate changes. 

I will never stop pursuing formal or informal mentors that can help me grow.  As long as you’re in the game, you have to be committed to your development.  Equally as important, I am hopeful that I can support the growth of future leaders as a mentor.

Equally as important, I am grateful that I am supporting the growth of future leaders as a mentor in the likes of:

Gregg Morin, Vice President Sales, Health Data Vision, Inc. - Gregg shared this feedback with me recently when he saw a draft of the blog above..  “I met Jay in November 2015 when he joined Guidance Software.  I was a five year Guidance Software veteran managing the Central United States Region.  I had been in various sales management positions since 1998 with a consistent level of success.  However, Jay brought a new level of looking at my business that I had never experienced and it paid/pays off.  He espoused metrics that even surprised me as someone who always thought they had a grasp on their numbers. He pushes with an encouraging approach to always be developing and driving new initiatives.  However most important, Jay has a level headed demeanor and style that you don’t want to let him down.  He gives you leaway, engages with an open mind, teaches without preaching, contributes appropriately, and in the end, you work your tail off to not disappoint.  That is why I jumped at the chance to join him at Health Data Vision to continue to enhance my career and those of the people who are members of my team.

Life is a journey and the right mentors and commitment to growth can lead to some rewarding destinations. Continue to seek a mentor and when it’s right, look to give back. You’ll be surprised how that creates its own set of learnings and rewards.

About The Author

Jay is the President and CEO of Reveleer. He is a seasoned software and services executive with over 25 years of experience in various leadership capacities, including his most recent position as Chief Revenue Officer at Guidance Software. Jay holds his MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business along with a bachelor’s degree in economics from Connecticut College.