I just returned from Lessiter Media’s 3rd national event already in 2025, this time in Kansas City. As always, the fine technical, business and networking sessions delivered as promised, but this year’s experience was personally rewarding for several reasons.

First was the attendee-led Devotional I got out of bed to experience for the first time. This special session at 7 a.m. drew about 50 before the day’s official start. It included a creatively positioned faith lesson from Jason Critton, and with thoughtful participation from attendees on the floor.

Second, several presentations (including roundtables, classrooms and award presentations) focused on the next-generation needs of a graying industry, and the need to start the newcomers on the right foot.

The first 2 points coincided with my current Men’s Group Study at church. Another a-ha moment came in the deja-vu setting in the same space almost 30 years ago.

True Apprenticeship 

My Tuesday night Men’s Group is reading and discussing Practicing the Way by John Mark Comer. The first few pages provided depth into the word “apprentice” that I’ve never considered.

The author favors the word apprenticeship to describe what most think upon hearing “disciple.” “Apprenticeship,” writes Comer, “was the pinnacle of the first-century Jewish educational system, much like a PhD or graduate program is in our system today.”

The highest form of mentor in those days was the rabbi, and if you were lucky enough to be called to apprentice, your “entire life was organized around three driving goals.” Below are the author’s descriptions of those goals, with the word “rabbi” interchangeable with the word “mentor.”

1. To Be With Your Rabbi. “You would leave your family, your village, your trade and follow your rabbi 24/7. You were a student …  but "class" was life. You would spend every waking moment with your rabbi sleeping at his side, eating at his table, sitting at his feet and end up, after long hours walking behind him from town to town, covered in his dust.”

2. To Become Like Your Rabbi. “That was the heart and soul of apprenticeship being with your master for the purpose of becoming like your master. You would copy his tone of voice, his mannerisms, his figures of speech. You wanted to be him.”

3. To Do as Your Rabbi Did. “The whole point of apprenticeship was to train under a rabbi in order to one day become a rabbi yourself. If you made it through the gauntlet of discipleship (and that was a real if), then, when he thought you were ready, your rabbi would turn to you and say something like, ‘OK, kid, I give you my blessing.’”

As with nearly every book our group studies, I always find an examination of its key principles to be relevant to our own business and those we cover. More on that in a minute…

My Kansas City Deja-Vu

Another reason for a memorable Summit was a deja-vu moment on the Crown Center Skywalk that connected the downtown hotels in Kansas City. I’d passed the same spot on the skywalk 30 years ago, which spurred me to recall a defining moment in my career. 

My mentor’s name was Dave Kanicki and, if his name is familiar to you, it’s because I lured him to Wisconsin to serve as Farm Equipment’s executive editor for 15 years before retiring in 2020.

My story with Dave began in 1991 when, at age 22, I saw a Chicago Tribune ad for a business and technology editor to cover the foundry business. As underqualified as I was, I landed the job and moved to Chicago. Taking a job you’re woefully underqualified for is a great lesson in humility, by the way. It opens eyes and ears in a way that might not have otherwise occurred.

You see, while my dad and another newspaperman helped me hone interviewing and writing skills, I was green in understanding and tailoring actionable information about a complex manufacturing world. 

Once Dave saw I was serious about learning the business, he stepped up to counsel me in a way I hadn’t expected from a normal boss-rookie arrangement. We didn’t call the relationship by any name, but it was an apprenticeship under the definition I now know. I looked up to Dave, liked and respected him, and wanted to absorb his knowledge and try “his way” of doing things. The mentoring was natural, yet we both worked on the relationship with seriousness and purpose.

And, I needed his help. As one who barely got through chemistry, I couldn’t cover engineering and metallurgical processes on my own. First, it was way too technical and second, I continually found myself in situations that required a broader experience than my short years.


“That’s where learning, not just instruction, takes place…”


I learned that journalism skills were secondary to the “working with people skills” and the ability to bring curiosity and care for the customer in fulfilling our mission. And Dave’s style brought us into conversations that included confidential data and future plans. 

Once, I returned from a road trip with a “great story” of what I’d seen on a private plant tour. I explained the innovation I’d seen and how it was communicated to me, and paused for his input. He didn’t tell me what to do but asked questions instead. From my office doorway, he stated, “At the end of the day, your trust is the only thing you have.” Nothing more.

I caught his drift and remain happy with my handling of the matter decades later. Through impromptu talks like these, I received a masterclass in character, ethics and priorities. 

As time passed, I also noticed some “style things” I wanted to handle differently. And since he said he wanted me to do better and go further than he had, I saw it as my license to cut a somewhat different path. And still a work in progress, whatever I’ve been able to accomplish so far in my career has a great deal to do with my apprenticeship.

The Kansas City Skywalk …  30 Years Later

After the 1995 foundry convention, Dave and I hung back from the crowd on the Crown Center Skywalk. I was 3 years into my career and this was my first convention as a newly-promoted editor-in-chief, still during a time when some might’ve viewed any 25-year-old editor as “over their skis.” With the rest of our staff and customers walking ahead, he pulled me aside and said he was proud of me and how I’d handled the 4 days in Kansas City.

I needed that reinforcement and acknowledgment that I was on my way, and it was a major confidence boost. And it meant far more than a checked box on a performance review months later. That’s what I remember walking that skywalk bridge – 3 decades later and working in an entirely different trade.

Summit Teaching

I attended a classroom by Beck Ratte Randall on dos and don’ts for young professionals. She described the difference between education and apprenticing under a mentor. “Education is about the short-term,” she says, “but no one comes out of a school ready-made for any profession – it doesn’t exist.”

The relationship with a trusted mentor, meanwhile, is a long-term one, she says. And one you can call on for the rest of your life.

She shared real-world examples of providing sage guidance, protecting the apprentice from mistakes and revealing opportunities no rookie could recognize in real-time. Her words to the young folks were to find and nurture relationships where someone will “pour everything they have into you.”

Apprenticeship Observations

As all of this swirled in my head, my epiphany was 3-fold. First, everyone needs a mentor to walk aside. I've been lucky enough to cite 5 mentors in my life. None were actively sought out or assigned, but emerged nevertheless. 

Yet a conversation this weekend revealed a sobering thought. Some, maybe most, go through life without a true mentoring influence, or at least one that fits the definition in the Comer book.

Second is the enormous responsibility of a mentor. If the master must be worthy of emulation in all areas of their life, a staggering few are worthy. The mentor must be in an elite class, not only in wisdom and knowledge but also in character. And to be generous with their time and care. 

Knowing what I now know, the term “mentor” will no longer be tossed around loosely. And if you’re asked to mentor someone else, consider what it means. If you’re not willing, suggest someone else because it’s not a responsibility that can be taken lightly – and because the individual deserves it.

Third, is the dynamic of the mentor-apprenticeship role. While it’s normally framed in a supervisory relationship, perhaps it shouldn’t be. It may be more of a parental, participatory-like relationship that needs more than a supervisor can readily give while handing out grades.

I’m now equipped to recognize true apprenticeship when I see it. A sure sign is when the greenhorn asks the mentor questions that are answered in the form of more questions. That’s where learning, not just instruction, takes place – and through various scenarios and options. And while extending leeway, there’ll still be a safety net so the apprentice is not left to flail about on its own.

I’m more in tune with what I need to do and make time for when I am stepping into a true apprenticeship. Are you?