The Quiet Habits of Great Duke Mentors

By White’s account, King is one of 39 of his former assistants who is leading or has led a sports program across the country. As he details in his memoir, “The Good Sport: Reflections on a Full Life in College Sports,” his mentorship “was organic in the way it happened, not unlike my career. My career was a career by happenstance.”

Some leaders, like White, are natural mentors. But for Denise Haviland, Associate Dean of Marketing & Communications for the Nicholas School of the Environment, her mentorship has been intentional. In 2025, Haviland was part of Duke Human Resources’ Mentoring for New Supervisors program, which paired experienced Duke leaders with newly promoted supervisors to help provide guidance to navigate challenges.

Both White and Haviland understand a universal truth about workplace relationships: It’s important to have mentors, but it’s just as important to be a mentor, too.

“I’ve been very, very lucky to have a couple people who took an interest in me and gave me the gift of their time and guidance,” Haviland said. “I wouldn’t be where I am if I hadn't had those anchoring mentors, and I really felt I needed to pay it forward.”

As experienced advisers, both White and Haviland share some key advice they’ve passed along to mentees.

Be Authentic

White’s ability to mentor dozens of future leaders comes from his connection with others by sharing his origin story and glimpses into his life.

“Just letting my guard down and being pretty authentic seemed to be what connected me to a lot of the people that I’ve been fortunate enough to be around,” he said.

For Haviland, authenticity meant providing advice to her mentee, Trinity Associate Dean for Communications & Marketing Owen Covington, that came from her heart.

“The way I do things isn’t out of a book or from a manual,” Haviland said. “It’s just all battle-tested insight that I’ve learned along the way. And that’s exactly what he was looking for.”

Be Empathetic

When King spoke at the news conference introducing her as Duke’s new Athletic Director, someone asked her to share the greatest lesson she learned from White.

“It’s really simple: It’s treat people the way you want to be treated,” King said. “That’s something we learn at a young age, but it’s sometimes we have to remind ourselves of when we’re making high-stakes decisions that concern people.”

White said he believes “great leaders are inordinately empathetic. They can put themselves in the position of the people they’re endeavoring to lead.”

Empathy can come in the form of understanding what team members need.

“For me, management is emotional,” Haviland said. “It’s up to you to help people develop as employees. It’s up to you to help them build cohesion as a team. It’s up to you to help them figure out what they want to do with their career. And maybe other people don’t take that as seriously, but I really, really do.”

Be Task-Oriented

Quite simply, supervisors know how to finish tasks.

“Really good leaders find ways to get things done,” White said.

But the best lesson Covington learned from Haviland is that sometimes the best way to accomplish a goal is to “empower those you supervise.”

“Being a supervisor is not always about, ‘Come follow me and let me tell you what to do,’” Covington said. “A lot of it is letting go, to an extent, and letting people realize they can play a role in shaping the bigger things we do as a team.”

Be Flexible

One key that both White and Haviland learned through their careers is to always be willing to adjust.

“Leadership has never been a cookie-cutter kind of endeavor,” White said. “What you did at the last stop or position might not be the right recipe for your new, immediate circumstance.”

Haviland says that means taking chances.

“Not everything you try is going to work,” Haviland said. “You cannot be risk-averse because then you’ll never know what you may have attained.”

Be Present

White says King and her husband, Rick, aren’t like family.

“They are part of, at the core of, our family,” he said.

White calls King his sixth child (Rick is 6b), and both are part of the White family group text. Their relationship stems from not only knowing each other for years, but also from White simply being available whenever King has needed him – or whenever she consults her “Kevin List.”

“It’s always being there and staying connected through the aspirational time of their career,” he said.

And it’s shown King how she wants to mentor others, too.

“It's been amazing to have his feet on the sidelines to watch how he works, how he invests in people,” King said. “That has given me kind of a roadmap now that I'm in this seat for how I lead and mentor and advise, as well.”

Do you have a mentor or mentee story at Duke to share? Send it through our story idea form or write working@duke.edu.

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