The Invisible Mentor

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There are several ways that we can learn from invisible mentors, one of which is through speeches. Here is a brief look at one of the rare speeches given by Marie Curie. Born in Poland nearly 150 years ago, in her lifetime, Marie Curie won two Nobel Prizes for her research in radiation and for discovering radium. The first Nobel Prize she shared with her husband Pierre Curie and French physicist Antoine Henri Becquerel.

On The Discovery of Radium

The speech chronicles her work, and highlights the importance of her discoveries. “On The Discovery of Radium” is one of the 48 speeches included in Speeches That Changed The World. The content of the speech is unlikely to be dinnertime conversation, but I liked her openness in sharing her scientific discoveries. She outlined step-by-step what she did, and that is something that we could copy in terms of writing up procedures. She also gave credit where credit was due. This is an important reminder that no one ever succeeds alone, and that we should remember where we came from, and who helped us along the way.

She emphasized that scientific work must be done for itself, “…Scientific work must not be considered from the point of view of the direct usefulness of it. It must be done for itself, for the beauty of science, and then there is always a chance that a scientific discovery  may become like the radium a benefit for humanity. In her speech, Curie also made an appeal to others to carry on with the work.

Why would Marie Curie make a good invisible mentor? She was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and the first woman to teach at the Sorbonne. She had many accomplishments in her 67 years and there are many things that we can learn from her. And most importantly, Marie Curie understood that life was not just about her, she had a good grasp of the concept of social responsibility.

Great Ideas

1. You can break down barriers – Marie Curie’s parent’s valued education but Russian-dominated Poland denied women the right in those days so Curie went to Paris
2. Build on the work of others if possible instead of reinventing the wheel – Curie did work on uranium rays which was discovered by Antoine Henri Becquerel
3. You achieve more when you work in partnerships – Curie worked with her husband Pierre on radioactive substances
4. Keep records of your work, it may be instrumental and the foundation for innovation that change the world
5. Tasks always take longer than you think, so be prepared to spend more time

I recommend that you read “On The Discovery of Radium“. At the very least it will expand your knowledge and will definitely build your general knowledge which is a requirement for generating great ideas. Let’s keep the conversation flowing, please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right side) by email or RSS Feed. I created a Mini Learning Toolkit and you can grab a copy by clicking here. (Book link is an affiliate link)