Training Zone has published this article on mentoring that relates to both aikido and business training. My mentor Paul Linden and I are pictured above.
“People learn from people. People learn particularly well from people who have trodden a path before them. You can learn about something from Wikipedia, but to learn to do something of value you must have a teacher, or even better a mentor. Mentoring is one of the oldest forms of human learning (predating formal teaching and certainly coaching). For millions of years people learnt the essential skills of life from generation to generation by being shown, imitating and receiving feedback.
I first came across mentoring not in the management training world where I earn my living today, but in a much gentler field – that of the Japanese martial arts. I jest of course. The martial arts are an intense pursuit where mentors can be severe. The images of martial arts films are not far from the truth and there is no question that to learn a martial art one must have not only a teacher, but a close, almost familial, relationship with one.”…