I have been very fortunate to have excellent mentors, people who provide wise counsel when it seems like you have nowhere else to turn. Sometimes they just listen attentively and give confidence to your instincts – a refuge in stormy seas. But mostly they offer the calm wisdom of experience and insights born from a lifetime of lessons learned.
If you are lucky, mentors can be a huge part of your life. Like my godfather John Kauffmann, who taught me to value wilderness, history, literature, and music from when I was 17 until he died just a year ago. I had over 40 years of wise advice and guidance from this great man.
Others dip into your life at unexpected times and provide the perfect insight to shift your thinking in new directions. Bob Blake was this kind of mentor. I remember sitting at his kitchen table in Washington, DC as he asked direct and probing questions about ISC, helping me sort through tough challenges and sharpen my thinking. As a former Ambassador and a thought leader on sustainable development, he knew what he was talking about. I would emerge from these conversations sparking with numerous ideas and suggested contacts. Some of those connections – including Bob’s accomplished children, Robert and Lucy, who have, like Bob, sharp minds, generous spirits, and a passion to build a better world – have become valued advisors to ISC.
Bob Blake died last week at the age of 94 (obituary here).
Bob was remarkably active and healthy for nearly all his life. Ten years ago, I asked him how he did it, and he said: “I climb a mountain a day during the summer and a mountain a week during the winter.” Since then, I have toasted Bob after every climb.
I hope, like Bob and John, to be still enjoying wilderness, contributing to community, and mentoring others into my eighties and nineties, and I plan to be toasting their wisdom for many years to come.