This is an I-Heart podcast.

This is Lee Habib, and this is our American stories, and we tell stories about everything here on this show.

And one of our favorite subjects to talk about are leadership and mentorship.

And what they really mean, not just the jingoistic use of these words, but real-life mentors,

real-life leaders and what we learn from them.

Up next, a story from Ray Cole, the president of Citadel Communications, and himself a leader and mentor.

Ray is the author of a new book called Hangin' With Winners, and today he shares with us the stories

of the people he considers to be his greatest mentors. Take it away, Ray.

I've had two outstanding mentors in my life, very blessed in that respect. In fact, I had three.

I was a junior in college. My school was starting an internship program for the first time,

and it's history. Because I was working in my dad's grocery store while still going to college, I didn't sign up.

And the chairman of the department pulled me aside, and he said, Ray, we're starting an internship program.

It's really important that we get our best students placed in business across the community here in Sioux City.

And I need you to do an internship.

If you can do this confidentially, I'm going to give you the list of businesses,

and I'll even let you pick which business you get to go.

Everybody else was going to be given assignments that were rather arbitrarily given.

And so I took the list home, and I looked it over over and there were some great companies on that list in the Sus City area.

But the one that caught my attention was KCAUTV, an ABC affiliate that I had grown up watching.

I liked the on-air talent. The product was terrific.

And I went back the next day and I said,

you know what? You have a deal. How can I pass this up? I can do an internship for 10 weeks

...