In Reverse Sometimes, Solid Mentors Can Be Found Nearby By Thomas A. Barstow EARLY IN MY career, when I first became a manager, I faced a dilemma. I had an employee who was a wonderful person, and I liked him. But he couldn’t do the job he was hired to do by the previous manager. I had yet to fire someone, so I turned to one of my mentors. My mother was one of two women who graduated from the University of Maryland Medical School in 1950. Her career included being an administrator and manager. I also knew her to be compassionate, especially when it came to people who are struggling, and firing this young man would hurt his career and his family. Her advice surprised me, although it was based on common sense. She simply stated that I was hired to protect the best interests of the newspaper company. As long as the top managers didn’t ask me to do anything unethical, which they never did, then my professional and moral obligations were to make sure I had the best people in place to achieve clearly set goals. I thought about that as I was working on this issue of Reverse Mortgage magazine. The women we highlight have interesting lessons anyone can learn from. And they have been open to discussing their exceptional careers, offering their thoughts on their keys to success. If I were to pick a common theme among the interviews, it would be this: There are no shortcuts. Hard work, compassion, intelligence and dedication help get people to the top. The two main articles in this issue are supplemented with short articles about the various women who either work for reverse mortgage lenders or for one of the many companies that support the industry. I found some of the discussions about mentoring and training to be particularly interesting. Several people mentioned parents or others outside work who have helped guide their careers. I, too, found that to be the case, while also relying on the counsel of more experienced journalists who had my best interests at heart. Not all of the women we talked to started in the lending industry, which shows that management and In Reverse continued on page 4 REVERSE MORTGAGE / JULY–AUGUST 2023 3
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjQ1MzY1