Mentorship is the Way Forward

By Timothy White, CFPAI/AJPP, CFPS, CFPECS, CFPMIH, CFPMMH, CFPMIP, CFPMT, CFPMM, The Boeing Company

I can’t believe it has been a year since I took over as President of the IFPS. Time sure does fly. The annual meeting in Seattle has just wrapped up and it was another productive one. At this meeting, I had the pleasure of witnessing the first inductions to the Fluid Power Hall of Fame. What an awesome experience seeing and hearing these fine gentlemen speak!

There was one common theme among them: mentorship. In my previous article (in the January 2019 issue), I talked about ways to give back. Mentorship is another way to accomplish that. All the Hall of Fame inductees spoke about how important mentors were in their careers and how it was extremely important to pay it forward. The gentlemen have all reached a point in their lives that they are now mentors for many of us in the industry.

Mentoring can be done with industry peers as well as those in the community. Mentoring, if done correctly, has the ability to help an individual grow by showing them they aren’t alone and it gives the mentee somebody to bounce ideas off of. According to mentoring.org, young adults who were at risk of falling off track, but have a mentor are 130% more likely to hold leadership positions, and are 78% more likely to volunteer regularly. These are staggering statistics.

Just yesterday (as I am writing this), my daughter told me that her robotics club teacher would love it if I would come in and mentor the club in pneumatics and robotics. I am excited about the opportunity to introduce these young people to the world of fluid power. It will be fun to help them understand what is possible.

I challenge everyone reading this to find somebody to mentor. Some may not realize they want/need a mentor, but I know the research shows it helps so many grow. Somebody taught us the ways of the world, and now it is time to follow in the footsteps of the gentlemen that I mentioned previously and pay it forward.

Congratulations to those inducted in the Fluid Power Hall of Fame class of 2019!

• career
• ifps
• mentors
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• success