Every football season, we hear about the Bill Parcells-Bill Belichick coaching tree. And several others. Media covering the sport know fans of varying ages will connect with such reporting because comparisons are fun and relatable. Oftentimes, but not always, past performance can be an indicator of future success.
For example, the Cleveland Browns have tried their luck with multiple Belichick assistant coaches. None have ultimately worked out. But expectations were high for each of them. My idea is that we ought to bring back Bill Belichick himself for a career-capping effort to turn the team around once and for all.
Back to business. Professionals in just about every line of work have their own coaching trees: mentors we have studied and worked under who blessed us with experiences and feedback that shaped who we have become.
In some ways, our mentors are partly responsible for the results we produce and deliver for our managers, our companies, and our customers. We owe them so much. At a minimum, a reminder of how much they did for us. This is my story.
FORMER JOURNALISTS MAKE THE BEST MENTORS
When I was finding my way after graduating from Baldwin-Wallace College, I networked like crazy and landed a temporary full-time role supporting two very different candidates for the U S. Congress in two different races: union boss and Democrat Frank Valenta and entrepreneur and Republican Martin Hoke, who successfully unseated a Democratic fixture most thought could never lose (Mary Rose Oakar). She was vulnerable because of the check-writing scandal.
ROOTS: TOM ANDRZEJEWSKI & LESLIE KAY My federal political campaign experience came under the strategic communication leadership of two former journalists, editorial geniuses Tom Andrzejewski (former urban affairs reporter and columnist for The Plain Dealer) and Leslie Kay, also a former reporter (assistant metro and assistant state editor for The Plain Dealer). Their public relations firm, The Oppidan Group, previously (and successfully) ran Mike White for mayor of Cleveland. They thrived because their instincts in messaging were exemplary. They knew what would make news.
MIKE WHITE RECOUNTS HIS FIRST ELECTION (16-minute video interview, credit TeachingCleveland.org) I vividly remember sitting across from Tom and being struck by his way of thinking out loud and his standing and moving around as we talked or reviewed draft copy. You could almost see his brain working, as we considered ways to attract media to campaign events.
I wanted to be like Tom very early on.
I can still picture Tom, lean and tall with striking blue eyes, in his starched blue or white shirt and tie, and those old-school suspenders that button on the inside of your waistband. Again, I wanted to be like Tom.
He reminded me, thinking of it now, of a musician who closes their eyes while performing. I know they are digging deep into their soul to grab the needed emotions for the performance. Leslie, also Tom's spouse, was similarly skilled. Her manner as an editor was most memorable for me. She was really good at asking junior writers questions to spur new thinking. Something constructive (always) that helped us dig deep to think about what readers needed to most remember. They never flatly re-wrote copy that Susan Kurz or I walked over to present. They read what we wrote, marked it up a bit, and then they coached us in ways that made us immediately better. And made our copy sing. And made media notice what we were saying.
NEXT: Q-and-A with Susan Kurz, more journalist mentor memories.
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