Advice as to Advertising
The goal of mentoring isn’t to gain the gratitude of your mentees or kudos of your peers.
Gratitude is a natural by-product for a job well done.
Kudos are wrapped in your mentee’s success.
Leonard Bernstein’s letter to his mentor Serge Koussevitzky, the famous Russian-born conductor, composer, and Boston Symphony Orchestra music director perfectly portrays the essence of why we must always continue entering mentoring experiences.
Dear Dr. Koussevitzky,
Words are a remote enough medium of expression for any musician, but it is especially difficult for me to find words for this letter. Let it be brief.
This summer to me was beauty — beauty in work, and strength of purpose, and cooperation. I am full of humility and gratitude for having shared so richly in it. These last six weeks have been the happiest and most productive of my life. I have been able, for the first time, to concentrate completely on my main purpose, with a glorious freedom from personal problems.
It was a renaissance for me — a rehabilitation of the twisted and undefined Weltanschauung [worldview] with which I came to you.
For your creative energy, your instinct for truth, your incredible incorporation of teacher and artist, I give humble thanks. Seeing in you my own concepts matured is a challenge to me which I hope to fulfill in your great spirit.
[…]
In devotion, and in gratitude,
Leonard Bernstein1