For Fox News’s Dana Perino, Mentorship Proves a Superpower

Dana Perino has a superpower.It is a special gift that has nothing to do with her position as a Fox News anchor or her former role as press secretary for President George W. Bush. Instead, it has everything to do with her ability to guide young people as they navigate the minefields of their professional and personal lives.In short, Ms. Perino is a mentor. The Colorado native said the role is more than a calling; it’s a vocation, something Ms. Perino realized about herself when writing her new book, “I Wish Someone Had Told Me …: The Best Advice for Building a Great Career and a Meaningful Life.”“I learned quite a bit about myself writing this book, including where curiosity and self-awareness led me,” Ms. Perino said in an interview with the Washington Examiner. “I’ve also found that one of my hobbies is mentoring. I actually really love it and I feel strong in my convictions about my advice, like the chapter of Dana’s do’s and don’ts. These are my tried-and-true pieces of advice I give to young people,” she said.Ms. Perino said her “do’s and don’ts” stick with her mentees. “Don’t wear Uggs in the office. Watch your exclamation points when talking. These points are so important to me because I am convinced that if young people don’t put the brakes on, they will not get the job or the promotion. They will not be chosen to speak in front of the client. And it’s holding them back and they don’t even know it because it’s just a way they speak amongst each other,” she said.Ms. Perino added, “It is incumbent upon us as mentors, their managers, their friends, or their family, to gently pull them aside and say, you might not even realize this is happening.”Ms. Perino’s book is a kaleidoscope of sensible advice, filled with pragmatic answers for young people looking for a way to design and ultimately navigate a career path from the day they graduate from college, technical school, or high school.Ms. Perino speaks candidly of the advice she has received over the years from powerful figures in the military, government and corporate world. She includes moving stories from a wide variety of people that include country singer Dierks Bentley; the Tunnel to Towers chief executive, Frank Siller; former “Dirty Jobs” host Mike Rowe; and fellow Fox News friends and colleagues Bill Hemmer, Greg Gutfeld, Jesse Watters, and Martha MacCallum.Ms. Perino admits there are people who are not mentorable, in part because they want instant gratification. “They come to me and they just want the shortcut. They want me to tell them exactly what to do, and then they think, OK, if they do these three things, then they will become the White House press secretary, and my point to them is actually, no, that’s not how it works,” she explained.Ms. Perino said one of the great things about this book is that a young friend of hers, Lauren Fritts, is listed as someone who has gone from mentee to mentor as her career has blossomed.That obligation is the underlying lesson from the book.Ms. Perino said when Bari Weiss of the Free Press asked if the book is actionable for everyone, she realized maybe it is not. “I see the reader as someone who is ambitious, maybe starting in their high school years, and then they’re graduating high school, they’re in college, they’re getting ready to come out of college all the way up through probably around age 45 or so in terms of advice you can take from this book and then act upon,” Ms. Perino said.“If you’re looking for the easy way out, this book’s probably not for you. And that’s OK; if you are going to be successful, for example, you have to be in charge of your own health. You can’t outsource that. You can’t wait until you’re 50 to think about it. You have to actually make a commitment to yourself early on,” she said of something she is very honest about not doing when she was the White House press secretary.“I paid a price for it, and it took me a long time to get over that. And becoming more healthy takes time to achieve and work to maintain,” Ms. Perino said.The advice in the book is ageless. In an era when people reimagine their lives pursuing careers in different industries, you still have to land a job in that new industry, you still need to remember the importance of clinching that first impression, and that professionalism requires a professional decorum.Ms. Perino said her “meet my mentors section,” which included yours truly, was written with great affection. “I feel so much gratitude for the people I work with and have come to know. They are part of this journey of my life. And that’s wonderful to me.”Tidbits such as her friend Mora Nielson’s advice to laugh about your life, Lauren Fritts’ advice to give yourself grace, and Jessica Tarlov’s advice not to worry about things today that may not matter five years from now were some of her favorites. “That is because all of them are hard to do. I don’t always give myself grace. I do worry, and I need to remember to laugh about my life more,” she admitted.Mr. Bush remains one of her most influential mentors. He told her if you live a life based on a set of principles, decision-making is less complicated, even if it is unpopular, because you’ve never strayed from your moral code.Creators.com

For Fox News’s Dana Perino, Mentorship Proves a Superpower

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