Mentor, Laurent Daloz - My Overall Analysis and Thoughts to Provoke Discussion

As I mentioned in my very first blog post, I will be utilizing the the book Mentor (1999) by Laurent A. Daloz to analyze the similarities and differences between mentors and career coaches. It is important first to discuss the book itself, the theories it is founded in and the context from which it was written. I found the foreword of the book particularly significant for such clarification as it discusses the fact that the term mentor is not clearly defined or altogether fully understood, as is often the case for career coaches. Ironically, this lack of one true definition is also evident in the field of adult education. To develop a book on what could be deemed as too obscure a topic is certainly not an easy feat; Daloz, however, developed an eloquent story with grace and fluidity.

Daloz led me on a journey much like those he describes of his students, while he served as their mentor. Daloz utilized examples from mythology and religion as well as personal accounts from his mentees to bring theories of adult education alive. As I have found in other great books on the subject of leadership and facilitating growth among others, Daloz places the student at the heart of all interaction. The teacher/mentor/coach is nothing without a student/mentee/client. Additionally, I was struck by thoughts Daloz outlined that were similar to my own line of thinking: We as facilitators of others' growth, should not put our own personal preferences and ideologies first. Instead, we must analyze what perspectives or theories in adult education the student/client is operating within and how to either work within those means or offer a new frame of reference. Doing either requires us as facilitators to first understand what the goal of that student/client is!

It may be evident from my writing that the heart of the entire book is the belief in the student's pursuit of a transformational learning experience. Much like career coaching, individuals are expected to undergo a journey that begins with the mentor and ends with the student feeling transformed or empowered to move forward with newly-found strength.

Daloz's language exhibited very little evidence of judgment of his students. As I have read textbooks that often present one theory as superior over all others or that present a dichotomy that labels certain worldviews as more correct or more right than others, I was pleased to read a book that presented a non-biased account.

With this analysis in mind, I will post a series of follow-up blog posts that will utilize Mentor as the foundation for further questions and thoughts. As I post future blogs, I will highlight a number of topics that are found within Daloz's book and that relate to career coaching. I will demonstrate the various differences and similarities between the two approaches for each topic.

I encourage you to join me in this journey as I discuss Mentor further over the coming weeks. I invite you to envision yourself as my client at the precipice of a change or transformation that you want for yourself, ready to achieve a goal you are working hard for, or staring in the face of a fear that downright scares you. As students in this exercise, feel free to engage in conversation about what the strategies/topics I highlight may or may not do to accommodate your very own transformation.