This book takes stories of learning relationships from popular films,
television programmes and literature, and uses them as a catalyst for
beginners and experts alike to reflect critically on their own mentoring
and coaching practice. How realistic are our expectations of personal
change, and to what extent is the flourishing self-help market
responsible for this? What, if any, are the moral responsibilities of
executive mentors and coaches, when it comes to global corporate
wrongdoing? What should constitute 'truth' and 'knowledge' in a world in
which ambiguity and doubt can appear more effective weapons of survival?
What can Pinocchio, The Matrix, Star Wars or The Sopranos tell us about
any of this? Storytelling and metaphor have become of increasing
interest in research into leadership and learning. Here is a book which
takes the idea of storytelling as a powerful aid to learning and change,
and uses it to help practitioners and educators challenge their ideas on
mentoring in an entertaining way, by asking themselves some of the
difficult questions that these popular stories raise.