Who Believed in You?

How Purposeful Mentorship Changes the World

By: David McCormick, Dina Powell McCormick

Narrated by: David McCormick, Dina Powell McCormick, Paige McKinney, Danny Campbell

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Unleash the power of transformative mentorship. You can change somebody’s life—and that can change the world.

During the pandemic, Dina Powell McCormick and David McCormick watched as many Americans—including their six teenage daughters—were left feeling devoid of human connection and without the advice and guidance of mentors.

Recognizing the need in front of them, Dina and Dave interviewed successful leaders who stood on the shoulders of their mentor giants—people who saw something in them they may not have seen in themselves—and helped them find and achieve their purpose in life.

The book features stories from some of the most influential leaders across the country sharing how their mentors changed their lives, including Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft; Tory Burch, the founder of the women’s fashion empire; Hollywood producer Brian Grazer; as well as political leaders such as Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Who Believed in You unpacks the four critical elements of transformative mentorship—mutual trust, shared values, meaningful commitment, and the importance of instilling confidence—and offers guideposts and powerful illustrations from actual mentorship journeys that both show the way and inspire.

This book is just the beginning. Dina and Dave are starting a movement, encouraging leaders to share their stories of who believed in them and what advice they’re giving their mentees today.

Through unleashing the power of transformative mentorship, you can change someone’s life—and that can change the world.

Mixed Bag; Heavy Emphasis on the American Dream

The core premise of Who Believed In You: How Purposeful Mentorship Changes the World is that the U.S. is experiencing a great crisis (loss of trust) and that purposeful mentorship is the means to restore trust. To their credit, the authors seem deeply passionate and committed to this ideal.

The book unveils four key principles of purposeful mentorship (trustworthiness, values, commitment, and confidence) that are unpacked through a combination of author explanation and interviews with successful people. The second part of the book continues with interviews and focuses on some of the more practical elements of this approach to mentoring.

The interviews, indeed, are one of the book's strongest aspects. Each was succinct and interesting, and I enjoyed hearing perspectives from leaders of differing backgrounds who’ve achieved great success but aren’t necessarily household names. That said, the “name-dropping” sprinkled throughout the authors’ own recounting of their experience can be too much at times.

My chief complaint about this book is its nauseatingly high emphasis on “The American Dream.” Much of the narrative and the examples it highlights take a “pull up your bootstraps” approach to achieving success. Does it have its place? Sure, but the authors also speedily gloss over any deep discussion of real and impactful societal inequities, leading to a one-sided view of success and how it can be achieved.

For all its focus on success, Who Believed in You rarely emphasizes failures or lessons to be learned from them. The examples given almost always show that transformative mentorship leads to incredible personal success, but what about when it doesn’t? What about when, even in spite of world-class mentorship, failure inevitably happens? I think it was a missed opportunity to develop a wider view of success in the context of failure.

Ultimately, this is an easy, straightforward read that raises some salient points regarding our current society and rightly points to mentorship as having the potential to have a transformative impact. However, an overemphasis on the American Dream and an avoidance of discussion around failure mean that I won’t readily recommend it to others unless tI know it’ll be in their wheelhouse.

The importance of connecting with people and the exponential power of mentors and being a mentor!

I enjoyed how the authors of their personal stories into the stories of others, and the many ways that mentoring can happen in our lives whether it’s through a book, a momentary meeting, the national event that shapes our lives, importance of mentoring to both men and women is critical, and it inspires me to search out mentors Who will support my vision and challenge me ways that require me to learn and grow. The book reminds me that even at my age nearing 60 that continuing to develop mentoring relationships is critical.

Surprisingly good

Most books written by a politicians are either boring or have that … tone of just selling a book when elected. However, this was extremely powerful, insightful and something I’ll be telling others about. One of the best thinky deeper books I’ve read in 2025. Senator McCormick has a bright future.

each one reach one

mentoring something each of us may do in our own sphere of influence. I am inspired to listen all over again.

The impact I have on other people just by being a good person

The power of the persuasive…. The grace, I carry my life & it’s affect on other people.