The concepts of coaching and mentoring have been gaining prominence and diffusion in the corporate world for some time now. According to some experts, coaching would be a specific methodology that, through powerful questions, seeks to treat things “as they are”, working at the level of the individual’s skills and abilities in order to make him achieve certain specific goals. Mentoring, on the other hand, would differentiate itself by working and developing individual autonomy and maturity, aiming at improving the ability to make choices and decisions.
Currently, offers of this type of advice proliferate, as well as courses that propose to enable coaches and mentors for the market, with different levels of competence and seriousness, as we know. In this sense, the corresponding dissemination of studies and publications – also of varying quality – that has been taking place, seeking to establish definitions and procedures based on practical and theoretical foundations, coming from Sociology, Psychology, Philosophy, is remarkable. In view of this, I would like to make a simple contribution, coming from classical literature (my field of interest and study) that may help in a broader and deeper understanding of this territory, as important as it is delicate, which is the training and management of people.
Before designating a function or profession, the word Mentor was a proper name. It appears for the first time in the history of our civilization in a book – one of the oldest and most important narratives of humanity, already mentioned in other articles on this blog: Homer’s “Odyssey”, written in the 8th century BC In this poem in 24 cantos which tells the story of the return of Odysseus (Ulysses, in the Latin translation) to Ithaca, after the end of the Trojan War, one of the central characters of the plot, the goddess Athena, concerned with restoring justice in the world of men and ensuring that they carry out the its own destiny (its own beauty, as the original Greek word denotes, kalokagathia), in addition to mobilizing heaven and earth so that the suffering Ulysses, imprisoned by a nymph on an isolated island, could resume and complete his return home, personally interferes in the awakening of consciousness and in the initiation of Telemachus, son of Ulysses who awaits his return. of Father. His absence for almost 20 years ended up creating a complicated and embarrassing situation for the young heir, who sees his house invaded by arrogant suitors who seek the hand of his mother, Penelope, supposedly widow, while squandering his heritage and his honor, with endless parties and banquets. Feeling helpless and insecure, Telemachus watches all that injustice in a passive and conformist way. Explaining the intrinsic relationship between the father’s return and the son’s awakening, Athena sets out to act, assuming the appearance of an old and wise counselor, named Mentor, who disembarks in Ithaca in order to incite and initiate the young Telemachus in his kalokagathia. Without suspecting his divine origin, Telemachus listens and welcomes the wise words of Mentor, reflecting them in his heart, which ends up triggering a beautiful process of self-knowledge and self-realization.
Giving us access to the origins and foundations of what we currently call mentoring, Homer’s “Odyssey” brings us precious lessons about the real meaning and role of the mentor in the process of initiation and development of the human person. In a special way, we learn from this great classic that the mentor’s original function is to inspire, awaken and provoke the reflection of the one being mentored; to take you out of your comfort zone and make you discover for yourself the potential you bring within your own heart. The “Odyssey” teaches us that the mentor, far from being a guru, is a true pedagogue.
Here is another example of the pertinence and necessity of reading the classics to face the challenges of our times so deconstructed and bewildered.
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