Six career lessons – Part 4: Get yourself a mentor

Whether you’re staring at a blinking cursor trying to write your first resume, practising your podium skills or facing a career change, this year’s Arch Award recipients have insights on navigating uncertainty, embracing opportunity and forging one’s own path. That’s why, leading up to the start of Alumni All-Access on Oct. 15, we’re sharing two career lessons every week that draw on the experiences, challenges and unexpected moments that helped shape their journeys. 

Lesson 4: Get yourself a mentor 

Have you ever heard the phrase “it’s not what you know, but who you know”? Career Achievement Award recipient Robert Adamson, MEDes’89, would probably argue that it’s who believes in you when you're still figuring things out. 

Over the course of an architecture career that helped shape some of Calgary's most recognizable spaces — like the Calgary Central Library, the Arthur J.E. Child Comprehensive Cancer Centre and the Calgary International Airport — Adamson found no shortage of people willing to do exactly that. 

One of them was Michael Evamy, a senior partner at Cohos Evamy (now DIALOG), who noticed Adamson photographing a model for his master's thesis, stopped to chat with him about it, then asked him this simple question before he left: 

"When you finish defending your thesis, do you have a job?" 

The conversation led to Adamson's first role with the firm and the beginning of a career spanning more than three decades. 

Later, architect Jim Goodwin would become another influential figure, pushing Adamson to take on opportunities he may not have considered on his own and helping shape the leader he would become. 

Looking back, Adamson acknowledges that while talent, hard work and perseverance matter, so do the people who encourage us, challenge us and help us see possibilities we might otherwise miss. 

The right mentor won't hand you success or pave your career for you, but they might offer you outside perspective when you face challenges or help you imagine a bigger version of what's possible. 

If you’re looking for one, Adamson’s advice on “exploring your curiosity” is a good place to start. If his story suggests one thing, it's that a single conversation — or question — can sometimes change the course of a career. 

Today, after decades of success, Adamson strives to give back to younger professionals. 

"It's our responsibility to create pathways for other people to succeed,” he says.