One of My Most Important Mentors…Who I Have Never Met or Talked To In-Person

DEE President, Todd Gifford, with Walt Disney

I believe that mentors and role models are very important, and most people associate those with during your childhood. But I think it is important to continue to have mentors and role models into adulthood, and really your entire life. I think one of the toughest things there is is to go at life “alone”, without coaching from someone that you trust. I am not talking about your spouse or friends or other family members. These people are obviously close to you, but they are not always “mentors” or “coaches” for you. There may be some things you confide in these people for, but with respect to your work or job or profession or hobbies, it is more likely that you want or need coaching from someone that is an expert or master, that you can relate to and “can relate to you”.

Over time, as you get older, your selected mentors can and do change. This makes sense as your work, objectives, and interests evolve and change over time. Occasionally, someone that you have admired, looked at as a role model, and sought guidance from as a child continues to be a strong mentor or coach for you as an adult. That is truly a beautiful thing because it seems to me that the longer you are able to extract value and important guidance from a mentor or coach, the better. It is a form of a relationship that can get better with age.

Let me clarify something…when I say mentor or coach, some people automatically assume that you have to interact with that person live or via written word in order to “communicate” or receive guidance or coaching from them. I absolutely see this as not needing to be the case. And, so much so that I feel that even your best mentors and coaches do not even have to be living while you receive guidance and valuable insight from them. This goes beyond the normal “person I admire” concept. Admiration is definitely a portion of someone being one of your mentors or coaches. You have to respect and admire a mentor. It is routine for people to describe famous individuals (or non-famous individuals) that have passed away a short or long time ago to be someone “they admire”. What I am talking about with a true mentor or coach is someone who you admire and respect, but someone who communicates to you and coaches you, and someone that you seek to emulate.

How does someone who is no longer living effectively communicate to you, give you advice, or coach you?

One primary way is through books. One of the incredible things about books is that they archive and preserve very detailed and important information about important people and what people did when they were alive — so that we can open the vault today and understand them (receive communication from) when we need to. Another resource is letters, diaries, or more modern ‘blogs’. Yet another way to communicate with your deceased mentor is through recordings, either audio or video. Whether the resource is authored by the person you are wanting to seek coaching from or it is a biographical account from a 3rd person, the information is invaluable. There are many other resources you can tap into to “communicate with” and “listen” to your deceased mentors providing coaching and advice. I am not talking about a séance and talking to the dead — this is about studying the person and listening with your mind.

One of My Most Important Mentors

I am fortunate to have one of my mentors as a kid still be on my key mentors list today…Walt Disney. I became fascinated with Walt Disney as an 8 or 9 year old, about the time when two things happened. First, I remember being mezmorized watching Walt Disney speak at the beginning and end of the “Wonderful World of Disney” program that would be on each week. Second, I remember getting a ‘famous person’ written report assignment in one of my school classes — and choosing Walt Disney as the person I would learn about and write about — which caused me to get a book or two to read about him in depth. At the time I was watching Walt Disney talk each week on TV, I did not realize he had already died some years prior. As I was watching and listening to him, he was communicating with me as if he was still alive, and almost as if he was talking only to me. I said I was mezmorized! Everything he said resonated with me, inspired me, fascinated me, or taught me something important. He was mentoring me even though he was no longer alive. As I began to read more about Walt Disney and many of his ventures like Disneyland and later Disney World, his mentoring continued.

The Critical Key that Unlocks Mentoring from someone who is no longer living

Although there was a period in my life where I did not look to Walt Disney for mentoring and coaching (you know the age range: 16 – 25 years old where you pretty much don’t think you need any coaching from anyone!), Walt Disney continues to be a mentor for me today. His guidance is different for me today than it was 40 years ago, but I still get extremely important coaching from him. Today, Walt’s coaching helps me understand how to continuously innovate our business, interact with clients, provide incredible customer [we call customers “clients”, Walt called them “Guests”] service and experiences, and overcome adversities. As a kid, Walt was mentoring me to shoot for the moon and take some chances, follow my passion, have confidence in myself even if people around me were not so confident. It is interesting to see how a remarkable person such as Walt Disney, even if not alive, can coach and mentor you if you study them with questions that are on your mind or are purposefully seeking answers as you interact with the resources about them. This is the critical key to getting quality mentoring from the proverbial dead famous person: Study information about them with specific questions or problems you want answers to.

Having mentors and coaches is very important, but don’t limit these to just the people you can talk to live or via electronically. Tap into coaching from great people who are no longer with us.

Be Your Best,
Todd D. Gifford