Wherein we discuss the differences between heroes, mentors, and coaches, and why we need them...and a bit about becoming them.
If we want to become better, one of the easiest ways is to stand on the shoulders of giants. There seem to be three basic ways to benefit from other people's journeys-- have them teach us what they did, have them coax out of us our own way forward, or simply have them as a model to emulate: coach, mentor, and hero, respectively.
There are all sorts of ways to go with these three-- when do we go for one over another? which helps us the most? which is the most scaleable of the three? which do I hope to be? which do I dread to be? which do I resist seeking out and why? etc.--but we don't answer these questions. We leave them in the hope that they prompt good discussion for you!
Joseph borrows the distinction between mentors and coaches from Toastmasters International, which so far has been a very fine organization, and he commends it to you.
We reference the work of Seth Godin. His podcast is called Akimbo, and unfortunately neither names nor descriptions of episodes are very descriptive, and there's no guarantee that he talks about the heroes/mentors controversy on that show, but a link to it is here: https://www.akimbo.link/
Seth Godin does talk about it on an interview with John O'Leary, though, that Joseph listened to rather randomly... https://johnolearyinspires.com/podcast/archive/seth-godin/
I don't unreservedly recommend Seth Godin-- from what I've seen, he's pretty thoughtful, and provocative, so look to him if you want interesting topics of conversation to be examined with friends.
As always,
