After spending years in human resources and discovering that most companies weren’t doing an adequate job developing their number one asset—employees—Rene D. Petrin had a mission: to create an organization devoted solely to teaching businesses how to mentor talent. This entrepreneurial spirit combined with his keen insight into human behavior led Rene to found Management Mentors, Inc. in 1989. Management Mentors’ philosophy is simple: to show companies how structured mentoring programs are the most powerful and effective strategy for professional development within an organization.
It’s been an amazing 25 years for Management Mentors. We’d like to take a moment and have a little bit of fun! We are taking a quick walk down memory lane to reminisce about how the world has changed since Rene took his giant leap into the corporate mentoring biz…..
In 1989, pop culture looked like this:
- Bart and Homer Simpson took over our living rooms on Sunday nights.
- Only one movie truly mattered. When Harry Met Sally. Mmm-hmm. Need I say more?
- The New Kids on the Block had teenage girls screaming like their heads were gonna pop off.
- Banana clips, Swatch watches, and Reebok hi-tops flew off store shelves like the Cabbage Patch Dolls had only a few years before.
- Big hair and shoulder pads were still rockin’.
- Candy Crush on Facebook? Minecraft on the iPod? Nope, it was all about Tetris on the Game Boy in 1989.
- Taylor Swift
- Hayden Panettiere
- Daniel Radcliffe (you know, cute little Harry Potter)
- Dakota Johnson (offspring of Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson-The Brangelina of 1989!)
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played his last game with the L.A. Lakers, closing out his amazing NBA career.
- Baseball super stars Carl Yastrzemski and Johnny Bench were inducted into the Baseball Hall Of Fame.
- Wayne Gretzky broke the all time points record of the NHL with 1,851 points.
- George H.W. Bush was President of the United States
- A gallon of gas cost $0.97
- Soviet War in Afghanistan came to an end after 9 years
- Exxon Valdez Oil Spill in Prince William Sound
- The Dalai Lama won the Nobel Peace Prize
- The East German Government announced that they would take down the Berlin Wall
We hope you enjoyed this walk down memory lane. 1989 was an exciting time for the world of pop culture, sports, politics, and business. It certainly was and has continued to be an exciting time for Rene and for Management Mentors.