In The Odyssey, Odysseus placed Mentor in charge of his son Telemachus as Odysseus went off to the Trojan War. The term 'mentor' evolved to mean a valued advisor. Mentors have transformative potential not by controlling but by guiding mentees to better habits and better choices...adding value.
The word 'dogma' has a Greek root, 'dok', to seem good. The Oxford Dictionary defines dogma as "a principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true." As mentors, we teach trainees to "free their mind" as they bridge that gap between 'seeming good' and 'incontrovertible truth'.
When activities go well, mentors offer praise and further encouragement. But sometimes life goes south. The girls support each other after a turnover or misplay, "that's okay." But mentors correct, too. My sister, a former Fortune 500 CEO, has an expression, "That is SO not okay." We must change flawed process decisions (e.g. playing in traffic, forcing shots) or lack of effort causing mistakes.
We should separate who we are from what we do. When we work to improve ourselves, that spills over upon the people and projects around us. "Before you can change the world, you have to change yourself."
Darren Hardy wrote The Compound Effect, advocating incremental change to effect great changes. “The first step toward change is awareness. If you want to get from where you are to where you want to be, you have to start by becoming aware of the choices that lead you away from your desired destination.” When we spend our time instead of investing it or react without thinking, we deprive ourselves and others of our best.
Mentors are learners. At our best, we instill curiosity in our mentees. Curiosity manifests itself in mentees asking more and better questions, and reading more and more sophisticated literature. We inspire. They perspire.
Usually measuring our impact is tough. I can't know whether my players are reading more or studying more. But I can use the eyeball test for how they play. By the second half of the season, if there was a loose ball, one or two of my players were diving on the floor for it. That is SO okay.
