Even Famous People Have Mentors

Summary: Mentors provide valuable and irreplaceable advice for young and aspiring professionals. Take a look at these famous people and the mentors that helped make them who they are.

Warren Buffett was mentored by Benjamin Graham. Buffett was attending Columbia University when he met Graham, an economist and professional investor.

Bill Gates was mentored by Dr. Ed Roberts. Gates and Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen both worked for Roberts before starting their own company. Roberts was the creator of the microcomputer Altair 8800.

Steve Jobs was mentored by Robert Friedland. Friedland taught Jobs to change his attitude and working methods.

Marissa Mayer was mentored by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Mayer is the current CEO of Yahoo. Brin was at Stanford University and Page was at Google when they both directed her into the technological world.

Bill Hewlett and David Packard were mentored by Frederick Terman. Terman was a Stanford University professor that helped Hewlett and Packard focus their ideas and give them customers.

Mark Zuckerberg was mentored by Steve Jobs. Jobs was able to advise Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, to focus his team into providing high quality and good things.

Richard Branson was mentored by Sir Freddie Laker. The founder of Virgin Group had asked Laker for guidance when he was trying to get his company, Virgin Atlantic, up and going.

Charles Schwab was mentored by Andrew Carnegie. Schwab started out working for Carnegie’s steelworks and eventually became the president of the company.

Mary Barra was mentored by several people that encouraged her to take an HR role at General Motors. They helped her see the qualities she possessed that made her a good fit for the role that has helped her work her way to CEO.

Robert Herjavec was mentored by Warren Avis. Avis, the founder of Avis Rent a Car, was Herjavec’s boss at the time. He told Herjavec that he had the spirit of an entrepreneur and needed to become the one supplying the salesman instead of being the salesman.

Jillian Michaels was mentored by Suze Orman. The famous personal trainer turned to personal finance expert Orman to learn how to be a successful businesswoman.

Photo: entrepreneur.com