NOV NIBJ: North Idaho leaders speak on their mentors

In order to get to the places we want to be in life, we need some help along the way to get there. North Idaho’s local business leaders are no different in that regard.

Coeur d’Alene Tractor General Manager Matt Adams said his late father was his biggest mentor. Started in 1929, Coeur d’Alene Tractor has passed through the family for generations and will celebrate its 100th year of existence soon. Adams said his father was always a good source of advice throughout their lives.

“I think the best piece of advice he ever gave us was, 'You're smart. You'll figure it out,’” Adams recalled. “It allowed us to have some freedom to explore ourselves, to learn and to do things our way.”

Numerica Credit Union Board Member and President of the Regatta Strategy Group Vanessa Moos found other women in her fields to look at as mentors as she was up and coming. Among them were Heidi Rogers, the former Northwest Council for Computer Education CEO, and Elaine Kingston, who serves on the Charity Reimagined board of directors.

“Heidi saw that she could introduce me to people that I may not have had access to and it opened up this different side of community leadership,” Moos said. “Elaine taught me so much about how to be tactical with how I speak. She was a really great guiding leader.”

For Rick Rasmussen, CEO of Northwest Specialty Hospital, his mother and a former boss taught him the importance of communication.

“As we work with people on our team, I make sure they're all listened to and I try to give everybody time to be heard,” Rasmussen said. “Everybody is needed in your organization. You treat people how you want to be treated, and it's done me well.”

While Rasmussen adheres to the Golden Rule, Coeur d’Alene Realty’s Co-Owner Jenn Smock learned a similar but fundamentally different lesson from her mentor Pat Krug, a longtime realtor and designated broker in the area.

“Nobody cares how you want to be treated; they care about how they want to be treated,” Smock said. “I need to match their energy so that they can absorb what it is that I'm saying. Otherwise, they're not going to hear me.”

Heritage Health CEO Mike Baker was mentored by Lisa Nichols at Intermountain Health in Salt Lake City, Utah. He said that Nichols motivated him to strive for goals he wasn’t always sure he was capable of achieving.

“Like most mentors, she gave you room to fail and then was there to help you find your way through,” Baker said. “You do have to fail to grow. She was really good about letting me talk to the board of directors and speak in the community, doing different things like that.”

Now, these local leaders are applying the lessons they learned to both their jobs and lives.

“(Krug) told me one time to react with grace, even if you don't feel that way in the moment,” Smock said. “I literally guide my life by this principle. I want to be the person that I want my kids to be. In a given situation, if I reacted a certain way, would I be proud of my children, or would I be upset or ashamed? I think about that all the time.”

Now, it’s time for North Idaho’s leaders to mentor the next generation.

Adams said that he mentors up and comers within his business the same way his dad taught him: Giving people the freedom to be themselves and allow them to pursue opportunities. One employee who he wanted managing a store had a great work ethic, but lacked attention to detail. Adams built the employee up and made sure he was ready for the position.

“You need a more rounded, global understanding of what that person would be like, and run almost like a scenario in your mind,” Adams said. “I am more proud of him than I even could have imagined. With the responsibility he took on, he’s much more detail oriented and he's become much more organized.”

    Windermere/Coeur d'Alene Realty co-owner Jenn Smock
  

    Moos