Helping Others Find Significance
Tom Pace was a depressed ex-con and failing businessman when he met a man who changed his life.
“Mr. Malcolm Hall was one of the most important mentors I’ve had in my life,” Pace said. “He helped me to get through my desert when my business went in the dumper. He basically saved my life.”
They met when Pace contacted Hall, a commercial real estate owner, to rent some office space.
“In our short conversation, he said that I sounded depressed, and I told him I was,” Pace said. “Then he asked me if I wanted to get together with him, and this is what he told me the first day I met him: ‘I know how you feel. I’ve been there, and together we’ll get through this.’ And after he said that, then he told me his story, and when he got done telling me his story, I knew he’d been there. He said together we’d get through it and we did.”
Their friendship began in 2001 and continues to this day with hour-long meetings every Tuesday at 6 a.m.
“He helped me to overcome fear,” Pace said. “He helped me to establish adequate capital reserve, and he helped me to become creative again. He said ‘don’t run from your problems, face them and deal with them.’ And I could do that because he had done it, and he showed me how to do it. He was open with me, he shared his life with me.”
That openness and availability gave Pace the tools he needed to transform his spiritual, personal, and business life.
Pace went on to build a thriving multimillion dollar business and spends at least twenty hours a week mentoring folks aged 19 to 56.
When people ask him how to find a good mentor, his answer is simple: “find someone who has the experience in the area that you want to be mentored and send them an e-mail or letter or phone call and tell them that you’re interested. If you want someone to do anything, you’ve got to ask.”
For those interested in being a mentor, similar counsel is given: “Find someone that has a desire to succeed in an area where you have experience.”
Pace’s experiences both as a mentee and mentor are recorded in his book Mentor: The Kid and the CEO co-authored with Walter Jenkins.
Through the book he shares the story of his life-changing relationship with Malcolm Hall, his transition to mentor, and helpful tools for others.
“It makes us significant,” he said. “Success is achieving worthwhile goals, significance is helping other people achieve worthwhile goals. Success can be selfish and self-centered but significance affects other people. If I run a marathon and complete it, I’m successful. But if I encourage other people to run a marathon and they complete it, then I’m significant. The more I help other people, the more my life has meaning and purpose.”
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Comments
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This is great story and inspired me.
Posted by Marnix, 29/01/2012 7:47am (4 months ago)
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Thank you for sharing a glimpse into some remarkable lives. Indeed, every life counts.
Posted by Marti, 26/01/2012 9:08pm (4 months ago)
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I love the inspiration in this story!
Posted by Michelle Bish, 25/01/2012 10:04am (4 months ago)
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