The sorcerer's apprentice. The knight and his squire. David Carradine's grasshopper and his master.

The idea of learning from an older and wiser person is an ancient one.

The traditional form, student and teacher, is well known but another form, mentoring, perhaps less so.

The relationship between mentor and mentored is a more intimate one; a mentor is "friend, philosopher and guide" to the student.

According to the authors, the main strength of a mentor is the ability to listen, where in the more traditional classroom, the role of the student is to listen to the teacher.

An entrepreneur may decide to seek a mentor for a variety of reasons.

These usually include a feeling that the business is not progressing as well as it should, lack of knowledge in some areas of the business and loneliness. The ability to seek advice and learn from somebody who understands what is required is one of the cornerstones of the mentoring concept.

The relationship between mentor and student is based on mutual trust and if that cannot be established, the relationship should be terminated.

However, a student should not expect an instant rapport with a mentor as trust can only be built up over time.

Another requirement of the mentoring relationship is that both share the same values, according to the authors.

"It is impossible for the mentor to work with an entrepreneur whose values are different from, or even opposed, to his own. If there are minor or subtle differences in values, the gap between them may be bridged with discussion.

"Where the values are incompatible, the mentor must withdraw from the assignment."

Other constraints on a mentor/student relationship are of an ethical nature and the book is quite clear on where the boundaries are.

A mentor should not become involved with the student's business in any shape or form, be it in the form of a consultancy, a directorship or even endorsing the student's products.

The book unequivocally states that a mentor should not pursue an emotional or sexual relationship with a student or any of the student's employees.

Finally, a mentor should not allow the student to become emotionally dependent and the mentor should not become involved in making any decisions related to the management of the student's enterprise.

The book does suffer from a forbidding aspect. It is quite dense looking and requires close attention.

The simulation exercises in it seem quite realistic and exhaustive, with a multitude of scenarios raised and dealt with.

However, this read would have benefited from some real-life examples of mentoring, with real mentors/students relating their experiences. This would have alleviated the somewhat manual-like approach of the publication.

A nice little touch is the mentoring through the ages section at the back, where we meet characters as diverse as Homer, Beowulf and Trollope.

comidheach@irish-times.ie