For many of us our best friends are Hidden Heroes but all too often we don't tell them.

"I'll tell them tomorrow," we say but "tomorrow" never seems to come.

I'm in the business of acknowledging people for the positive things they do and yet, I've been a friend of one of those Hidden Heroes for ten years now, and this is the first time I've ever told him that he is one of my Hidden Heroes, one of my role models.

Throughout his career, he had a strong positive influence on hundreds of students as well as dozens of teachers and administrators both here in Nanaimo and around the world.

Good morning Bruce Mitchell. Surprise! You are today's Hidden Hero.

"Bruce always focused on what can, not what can't, be done when he worked here," Laura Harrison, a Dover Bay teacher, told me. "He believed in our abilities, set high standards, and helped us reach them … and he always acknowledged staff and teachers for their accomplishments no matter how small. That's something I've learned from him and try to do in my life."

Aleta Crawford had Bruce for a boss several years ago and still holds him up as one of her role models.

"He's a sage councillor of education, a leader and a guiding light," she enthused. "I'll never forget the time we were chatting in his office and he told me, 'My job is to make you better at doing your job'. That's the kind of man, the kind of leader he is."

The other thing Alita says she learned from him is as simple as it is powerful, "integrity matters". And never was a man born with more integrity.

Kristi Harrington, a Dover Bay parent told me that Bruce was always fair, he listened to both kids and parents, and he always focused on what was best for the students. She also commented on his sense of humour (a sense of humour that is somewhat warped in my opinion! - Just joking Bruce!)

"He was always fun and he brought light to everything," Kristi concluded.

Omar Sirri, one of Bruce's former students, told me that, "Mr. Mitchell wasn't just an administrator. He was a friend and a role model to all of his students, someone who inspired us, someone we could all look up to."

Brett Johnson, a Prince George principal who Bruce has coached since he was promoted into the position four years ago sums up his experience as follows:

"I call him an old sage," he told me, "because he has so much wisdom and experience. He sometimes let's you fall into a hole in the road so you can learn but he always makes the landing so much softer than it could have been."

Over the years Bruce has used his "old sage" experience to help educators in China, the Caribbean, and Kenya. Since he retired six years ago, he has also spent several years working with educators in Indonesia and coaching principals like Brett and other administrators across British Columbia.

Perhaps Bruce's wife, Pattie, best sums up the kind of man Bruce is, "Every Sunday evening for as long as I can remember," she told me, "Bruce would sit down at his desk and make several calls to students, parents and staff members. Some examples might be calling a drama student to tell them he'd seen them mentioned in the paper; he'd call a parent to let them know their son or daughter had achieved well on a test or he'd call a coach and thank them for spending their weekend with a team."

Acknowledgement is a powerful tool, a tool we can all use whenever we choose, and it's absolutely free. Bruce Mitchell is the master of acknowledgement. That's one of the ways he inspires those around him to reach their true potential.