Mentors

I’ve learned many lessons that carried me through every stage of my journey. They helped me make it through decades in prison, my return to society, my career in business, and the work I’m doing today. I give credit to the mentors who invested so much time to help me learn. We all should learn from mentors.

Mentors help us see beyond our current situation. They give us roadmaps to success, challenge our thinking, and help us avoid mistakes. Early during my journey, I learned that it isn’t necessary to meet face-to-face to find a mentor.

I first encountered this lesson when I read Plato’s Republic. Plato had a mentor: Socrates. And Plato, in turn, mentored Aristotle. That chain of mentorship has influenced Western thought for thousands of years.

Later, when I read Meditations, I saw how Marcus Aurelius tried to mentor his son, even before his son was born. He used writing as a tool to pass on wisdom. In the same way, we can find mentors by studying the work of those who came before us.

I realized then that I didn’t have to meet a mentor for them to guide me.

Distant Mentors

Through books, I studied leaders, philosophers, and entrepreneurs who helped shape my thinking. Some of these mentors lived thousands of years ago, others were authors I discovered while in prison, and some are people I’ve never met, but I still learn from them today.

Yesterday, for example, as I was driving from Orange County to Sacramento, I listened to an audio book, Zero to One, by Peter Thiel. I’ve never met Peter, but I consider him a mentor because his book is shaping the way I think about entrepreneurship, innovation, and building something valuable.

“Brilliant thinking is rare, but courage is in even shorter supply than genius.”
– Peter Thiel, Zero to One

That quote stuck with me. It reminded me that success isn’t just about intelligence—it’s about having the courage to act on what we learn from mentors.

Not all of my mentors came from books. Some were people I met while I served my term in prison. They were people who had built disciplined, structured lives. I learned from how they navigated their environment and complicated situations.

• One mentor taught me the importance of time management in prison—how to structure my day with reading, writing, fitness, and self-improvement.
• Another taught me how to write letters and communicate effectively.
• Some taught me what not to do by showing me the consequences of wasted time.

Those lessons helped me build a prosperous life after release.

Earning Freedom

A mentor can only take you so far. It’s on you to prove worthy of mentorship.

I tell people all the time:

• If you want a mentor, read their work. Show that you understand what they teach.
• If you want guidance, take action first. Nobody wants to mentor someone who refuses to do the work.
• If you want to learn, be humble. Approach mentorship with gratitude, not entitlement.

“When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”
– Buddhist Proverb

Mentorship isn’t about finding someone to solve your problems—it’s about learning from those who have walked the path before you and applying their lessons. Consider the people from whom you want to learn:

• If you want to understand resilience, study Viktor Frankl or Nelson Mandela.
• If you want to understand leadership, study Marcus Aurelius or Jim Collins.
• If you want to understand innovation, study Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, or Peter Thiel.

Once you choose your mentors, start doing the work. Prove you’re serious. That’s the strategy that worked for me while in prison, and it continues to work for me today. It can work for anyone.

Self-Directed Learning Question:

• Who are your mentors—whether from books, business, or life experiences?
• How are you applying their lessons to move toward your highest potential?

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