The Invisible Mentor

Mission Statement: What You Can Expect

As an Invisible Mentor, my purpose is to deliver high quality content through this blog that unleashes the inner genius within you. I plan to accomplish this by:

1. Posting thoughtful blog entries at least four times each week
2. Finding thought provoking books that are off the beaten track, that provide concepts that you can apply to your lives
3. Interviewing successful people, who are not the usual suspects, and who have a willingness to share their wisdom and experiences
4. Providing thoughtful and/or educational posts that will make you pause and think
5. Presenting information that allow you to:
   • Amplify your internal voice
   • Figure out your own solutions
   • Become your best selves and be the people you are meant to be
   • Find your most deepest and intimate truths
   • Accelerate building your body of knowledge
   • Achieve expert/master status
   • Discover the unique leaders (dead or alive) who you can learn things from

If I do this faithfully, in one year, The Invisible Mentor Blog will not only be a premier site, but also a valuable educational resource and destination for those interested in expanding their minds and thought processes.

The Promise

At least four times each week The Invisible Mentor Blog will be updated with Summareviews (a hybrid book summary and review), interviews, articles, resources and Tips and Tricks. Many of the Summareviews will be of works written at least 50 years ago, building on the concept of using yesterday’s concepts to solve today’s problems.

To assume the role of  The Invisible Mentor, we will make suggestions about how you can apply the concepts presented to your life. For us to succeed in helping you to achieve personal and professional success, we require your assistance and active participation. We also encourage you to identify your own Invisible Mentors. To get the most from your Invisible Mentors, interact with both the written and spoken word.

For the book, identify:

• The problem the author presented and how it was solved
• The relevance of the information to your work and life
• Five takeaways
• Five great ideas you can glean from the information presented
• Any rule breaking
• Ideas/solutions that relate to work and life
• Solutions to everyday problems
• Ways to use ideas/insights/takeaways to increase the value of your product/service to your customers both internal and external to the organization

And, does the book remind you of something you have done or read about?

For the interviews:

• How does the information relate to your work and life?
• What are five takeaways?
• What are five great ideas?
• What personal qualities made the interviewees a success?
• Why are those qualities important to their profession?
• What qualities do you have that are similar to the interviewees?
• How will those qualities aid your success?

Examples Where Invisible Mentors Helped

Charles Darwin and British biologist Alfred Russel Wallace independently arrived at similar theories of Natural Selection in the mid-1800s after reading Essay on the Principle of Population by British pastor Thomas Malthus.

After many years of research and observing birds in flight, German engineer Otto Lilienthal, also known as the King of Gliders published his findings in the widely read book Birdflight As The Basis Of Aviation. Lilienthal’s research article Practical Experiments for the Development of Human Flight, writings and notes proved invaluable to Orville Wright and Wilbur Wright also known as the Wright brothers. The Wright brothers believed that they could improve Lilienthal’s designs and resolve the problems plaguing aircraft theories. The Wright Brothers are credited for inventing the airplane.

As a child, while confined to bed because of illness, Robert Hutchings Goddard read H G Wells’ The War of the Worlds and became captivated with rockets and outer space. Goddard was a pioneer in liquid-fuelled rocketry and made significant contributions to the field.

While reading an article on a flight, Jeff Bezos founder of Amazon learned that the Internet was growing 2,300 per cent each year and wondered how he could use the information. He then looked at the top 20 catalogues to identify which would translate best to an online business and as a result Amazon was formed.

About The Invisible Mentor

One morning while on my morning walk in High Park in the fall of 2007, “Tales of People Who Get It is your Board of Invisible Mentor” pops into my consciousness. I quickly pull out my mini notebook and pen out of my back pocket and jot down my epiphany. I had been thinking about how to describe my book for a few months. Board of Invisible Mentor made perfect sense to me because whenever I face a challenge, I remember parts of the interviews I conducted for the book and I would know exactly what to do, or how to proceed.

I continue with my walk, enjoying the wonders of nature. I marvel at the four cygnets (baby swans) as they struggle to learn to fly before the winter arrives. Papa and mama swan patiently watch, every now and again instructing their offspring in lessons of persistence, “If at first you don’t succeed, try and try again.”

I notice the beaver enjoying the unseasonably warm weather as he takes an early siesta in the nook of a tree. Ducks line up in a row on a log as the birds rehearse their cantata for the fly south. Being in touch with nature takes me back to the basics of life and reminds me of the truly important things in life.

Later, I confide in a friend about my epiphany and she thinks it is pure genius. She further adds that the idea is ahead of its time so I should alter it to Tales of People Who Get It is your Board of Mentors. This doesn’t work for me because “invisible” is what makes it so special. Discouraged I park my idea for nearly eighteen months.

Why do we care so much about what others think, even if it sets us back? Why don’t we trust our instincts and just plough ahead? Could it be fear of going it alone?

After thinking about “Invisible Mentor” for some time, I develop the concept which I regularly fine tune. At times I berate myself for changing my mind about the concept, but I stop myself because changing our beliefs, thoughts and ideas show that we are evolving and growing.

The paper “Invisible Mentor: Communication Theory and Lilian Katz” by Professor Karen L. Peterson from Washington State University, and the book The Mentor’s Spirit by Marsha Sinetar (Author of the bestselling book Do What You Love and the Money Will Follow) helped me to clarify my thinking around the Invisible Mentor Concept. I am eternally grateful to them for their seminal work. I think it’s important to build on the works of others, instead of re-inventing the wheel.

After chewing, swallowing and digesting the works of Peterson and Sinetar, here is what I believe and understand:

Invisible Mentors are unique leaders we can learn things from by observing them and studying their works. This means consuming the books they have written (also books written about them), the presentations, speeches, and interviews they have given and studying and reflecting on works of art and ideas they developed/created.

After discovering the importance of invisible mentors, The Invisible Mentor Blog was born. Please see note of disclosure below.

About Avil Beckford

Avil Beckford, President of Ambeck Enterprise and Chief Invisible Mentor, is a writer, researcher and the published author of Tales of People Who Get It and its companion workbook, Journey to Getting It.

She often heard friends and colleagues talk about their mentors and the positive impact mentoring has had on their lives. But Avil was never  fortunate to have a mentor until recently.

Looking back with perspective, according to Avil, “I realized that I have always had non-traditional mentors in the form of the many books that I have read, the many people who I have interviewed for my newsletter Ambeck Edge and Tales of People Who Get It, and the many training programs that I have participated it.”

In fact, writing Tales of People Who Get It was a critical part of her evolution because the process changed her very much. When faced with certain situations, she would recall aspects  of  the interviews, and it dawned on her that the  interviewees sat on her personal Board of Invisible Mentors. “I thought that if those tools helped me so much, perhaps they would help others as well and that is why I developed the concept of Invisible Mentors.”

Note of  Disclosure

All Amazon links on the Invisible Mentor Blog are Affiliate links