Padma Hotels

One of the best lessons I ever “stole” from a former superior came in three simple words, “Kill It Today.”

It sounded dramatic at first, but the idea was simple. One day, he told me, “If you can finish something today, finish it today. Don’t wait just because the deadline is still far away.”

Working in Human Resources means you never really know what tomorrow will bring. A perfectly organized morning can change by lunchtime, someone resigns, an employee issue needs attention, recruitment becomes urgent or management calls an unexpected meeting.

His point was that a deadline tells you when something must be finished. It doesn’t necessarily tell you when you should finish it. So, whenever something could reasonably be completed today, his advice was simple, Kill it today.

I carried that lesson with me. Over the years, though, I realized something else had happened. I had been mentored without realizing I was being mentored.

Wait... Was That Mentorship? 

When I say I “stole” this lesson from my former superior, I use the word deliberately. He was my boss, but nobody ever said, “You are now mentor and mentee.”

There was no mentorship agreement, development plan or monthly session. I was simply paying attention. Years later, his words, decisions and approach still influence how I work and lead. It made me realize mentorship doesn’t always have to look like a formal program.

Not Everyone Gets a Mentor 

Formal mentorship programs are valuable and having an experienced person intentionally invest in your development can be incredibly meaningful. But not everyone gets that opportunity. Some organizations lack such programs and some managers are too busy to formally mentor. That doesn’t mean our development should wait.

Become a Lesson Thief 

This is what I call “stealing lessons”, becoming intentionally curious about the people around you. Listen when an experienced leader explains a decision. Watch how your boss handles a difficult conversation, manages conflict, responds to failure or stays calm under pressure.

"You don’t always need a mentorship program to be mentored. Sometimes, you simply need to become a really good student of the people around you."

But don’t just watch what they do. Try to understand why they do it.

My former superior probably had no idea I would remember “Kill It Today” years later. He wasn’t conducting a mentoring session. He was simply sharing how he thought work should be done. I took the lesson, tried it, saw its value and made it part of how I work.

Don’t Wait to Be Mentored

One trap in professional development is waiting for training, coaching, talent programs or someone to identify us as “high potential,” when brilliant teachers may already be around us.

Unofficial mentors don’t have to come from your own department. As an HR professional, I can learn commercial thinking from a Director of Sales, financial discipline from a Director of Finance, operational thinking from a General Manager, attention to detail from an Executive Chef and how to remain calm under pressure from an experienced hotel operations leader.

Once you start thinking this way, almost every workplace becomes a classroom. Instead of asking, “Who is going to mentor me?” I prefer to ask:

“Who around me has something worth stealing?”  

But Steal Selectively

Being a lesson thief doesn’t mean copying everything another leader does. Every leader has strengths and weaknesses and some things should not be copied.

Some people teach us what kind of leader we want to become; others show us what we don’t want to become. Both lessons are valuable.

Observe, question, reflect and select. Take the principles that make sense to you. Understand the context. Test them against your values. Adapt them to your personality and leadership style. Then make them yours.

Over a career, you may discover dozens of unofficial mentors. One teaches discipline, another empathy or courage and someone else difficult conversations or communication with senior management. Piece by piece, we build ourselves from lessons collected from others. 

Your Development Is Still Yours 

I am a strong believer in structured mentorship, coaching, training and leadership development. Organizations should create opportunities for people to grow. But there is one thing no organization can give us: curiosity.

A mentorship program can introduce you to a mentor. It cannot make you curious. A company can send you to training. It cannot make you reflect. A great boss can share years of experience, but they cannot decide which lessons you will remember and carry forward. That part is ours.

If you have a great mentor, learn everything you can from them. If you don’t, don’t assume you have to wait. Look around. Listen. Ask questions. Notice what good leaders do differently and their mistakes too. Whenever you find a lesson worth keeping, steal it.

Because you don’t always need a mentorship program to be mentored. Sometimes, you simply need to become a really good student of the people around you.

And perhaps, years from now, someone working with you will quietly steal a lesson from you too.