From whom I follow to those who follow me

Allow me to indulge on the theme of mentoring. To fulfill NMSU’s three-pronged land-grant mission (teaching, research and service), our faculty and staff are involved in multi-tasking which is often stressful and never-ending. I have always found it to be of help to be mentored by those who are on different paths from mine. There’s glamor in the thought of leading. We often forget that great leaders are followers as well. They mentor and get mentored all the time. They help and seek help. There are events and circumstances in our careers for which we are uniquely qualified to lead others because we faced them in the past and those around us are facing them for the first time now. By the same token, there are those situations in our lives which we are facing for the first time and those around us are familiar with them and are qualified to lead us. Our individual experiences and circumstances are so unique that we would be better off if we are open to the idea of being both leaders and followers. I seek help; hence I am fortunate enough to find some great mentors all around. I am grateful for this help; hence I am always willing to mentor those around if the situation so warrants. I believe “From whom I follow to those who follow me” is a wonderful mindset. I encourage all of our NMSU engineering stakeholders give this a try.