No One Does It Alone

Thinking about the people who influenced me in my professional life, I realized that many of my mentors had actually played roles in my life far before I even knew what a mentor was or even began thinking about a career.

From the start I was fortunate to have three successful businessmen in my life. Interestingly, each had his own business-a path I eventually followed.

The first was Peter Agrafiotis (Big Peter), my great uncle, one of the first advertising and PR professionals in NH. He'd be 107 if he were alive today.  He taught me that the ability to communicate well was a gift and that there were businesses paid to communicate on behalf of others-how cool. He encouraged me to gain real world experience, which led to a handful of internships and job shadow opportunities in high school. His old Remington typewriter sits in my office.

My grandfather, Henry Spaulding, was the president of a shoe factory and an inventor of the turf shoe long before I was alive. His employees-whether line workers or vice presidents-were all treated with respect as equals. I know this because his retired employees approached me regularly to tell me about him. Unworn shoes from his factory decorate my house.

Finally, Don York, my Dad, is the hardest worker I know. He has run Indian Head Athletics and Screen Printed Special T's as long as I've known him, and I remain astonished at how he acts so naturally in business settings. He is extremely loyal while also cracking jokes, cursing and playfully teasing his employees and customers. Because of him, I'm comfortable in my own skin and don't try to be someone that I am not in a professional setting. I am who I am all the time. And that includes my morals and principles, which don't change for different aspects of my life. I regularly visit him at his office to get his perspective on various business decisions.

Although each of these mentors helped mold me into the person I am today, once I actually began my career I needed support from people who could teach me my craft. Big Peter had long since passed. It was David Gumpert and Paul Baudisch, co-owners of NetMarquee, one of the first Internet marketing agencies, who gave me my first real professional opportunity when I was 20. They hired me while I was still at Boston University and threw me into situations far beyond my years. They always provided enough guidance so I felt informed, but they rarely told me exactly what to do. They trusted me. They empowered me. They put me in a position to succeed and were willing to reward me for success. I still have lunch with Paul once in a while, and a framed print of the NetMarquee website circa 1998 adorns my office wall.

When I was 27, I chose to come back to Manchester. Naturally, I wanted to start my own company. But at that time, a young agency guy with mostly international, big brand, digital marketing experience wasn't likely to have much success flying solo in southern NH. Plus, most of the people who knew me in the market still saw me as a kid.

That's when I met Pat Griffin. He knew what he was good at and admitted what he didn't know. Our personalities clicked right away and even though he was much more experienced than I, he was willing to allow me to evolve his agency and set it up for the future-all with the informal commitment to consider me as his possible successor. He questioned why I would want to start from scratch, explaining there are benefits to having history, heritage, portfolio, infrastructure, existing revenue streams, and more. Additionally, he could mentor me with a mutual benefit. I took him up on the offer and achieved our vision-our names are side-by-side on our company.

Now It's My Turn

It's because of these people that I am where I am today professionally, and why I have committed to mentoring others. Any time a student reaches out to me, I take an informational phone call or face-to-face meeting. Each time that I get asked to guest lecture at a college or university, I try to work it into my schedule. Most times, I gain a mentee or two and, frankly, I learn just as much from them as they might from me.

More recently, I took my commitment to mentoring even further with the support of my team at GY&K. We've had tremendous success with our internship program over the years, hiring many of our interns for full-time jobs and important roles within the agency. We recognized, however, that each intern typically supported a department and, as such, our interns never had much opportunity to collaborate with each other.  As team collaboration is one of the most important aspects of a marketing company, we were unintentionally denying them the chance to hone this important skill.

We recently decided to augment our internship program by bringing in a group of students with complementary skills and allowing them to work together as a team on interesting projects. We essentially created a shadow company with strategy, creative, PR, social media, video production and technical development interns. Their first assignment was to position, package and promote themselves with complete access to the resources and employees of GY&K. You can see the results of their efforts at gykmarketing.com/rawexperience.

So take a moment to reflect on your career and the people who helped get you where you are. Think of where you'd likely be without them. Consider the valuable role you could play as a mentor to a young professional.

And if you are a young professional aspiring to get ahead, look around you. Odds are, there are already mentors in your life-people willing to help if you just ask. There are also likely many people who you will come across as you pursue your career path who are willing to pay it forward. Keep your eyes open for them.  You will be glad you did.

Travis C. York is president of Griffin York & Krause (GY&K) in Manchester and partner and co-founder of 138 Music & Entertainment/1band 1brand. For more information, visit www.gykmarketing.com or www.1band1brand.com.