The Terms "Consultant" and "Mentor"
| Strictly speaking, we are
being somewhat immodest when we offer ourselves as mentors. "My mentor"
is a perception of the recipient of the wise counselling, rather than a
role proffered by the counsellor. Mentor was the person to whom Odysseus entrusted his son, Telemachus, when he went off to the Trojan wars. Mentor was Odysseus's wise and trusted counsellor as well as tutor to Telemachus. In any case, Mentor's name has passed into the language as a term for wise and trusted counsellor and teacher. (And the proper use of the term consultant is for one who receives advice rather than one who provides it.) Anyway, back to the way the terms are used in this industry. |
