104 Leading with NLP
Now choose three other mentors for your journey.
These mentors can be people you know, people you
have heard of but never met, historical or fictional char-
acters, animals, or places that inspire you. Mentor is an
honoured and honourable status, so choose well. You
have to trust your mentors.1 The first mentor should be one who would help you
with the greatest external difficulty you are likely
to face (you will have identified this in the ‘Exploring
Reluctance’ exercise, p.96).
Who do you know who has overcome those sort
of odds or would be able to overcome them?
2 The second should be one you feel can help you
with the greatest internal weakness that might stop
you developing as a leader (again, see ‘Exploring
Reluctance’, p.96). Do you know someone who
has overcome this weakness or could help you
overcome it? Choose a fictional character if you do
not know any suitable real person.
3 The third mentor is a free choice. Who do you
want to make up your panel of advisers? Perhaps
someone very different, to balance the others?In medieval times, English kings and lords had a court
jester or fool. He would tell jokes, play tricks and
ostensibly keep everyone amused. He was allowed to
step outside the bounds of normal polite words and
behaviour, poking fun at people, reminding them of
their weaknesses, deflating their egos when they be-
came too full of their own position. He was a special
sort of mentor to the lord of the castle. Because of his
unusual position he was allowed to say things that other
people could not get away with without punishment.
He gave the outsider’s view, the slightly skewed view,
ironic, quirky and critical. There are some wonderful
examples of this in Shakespeare’s King Lear, where the
fool is the only person who will speak the truth to the