Shirley Peddys The Art of Mentoring: Lead, Follow and Get out of the Way - Book Report/Review Example

?Book Review of a Book on Leadership: Shirley Peddy’s The Art of Mentoring: Lead, follow and get out of the way. The book en d The Art of Mentoring: Lead, follow and get out of the way (Peddy, 2001) presents and ambitious and no-nonsense approach to the art of mentoring. At the very start the author describes an image of a young man picking up starfish on the beach and throwing them into the sea, one by one. This little anecdote is intended to represent the process of selecting one person out of many, and launching them into their career. It is an intentionally graphic description, showing how the job of a mentor is to make a significant difference in the life of just one person at a time. It emphasizes the power of the mentor, and as the subtitle “and get out of the way” implies, there is little or no sympathy for any counter-arguments or disagreements with the author’s rather pushy approach. The origins of the word mentor are explained, namely with reference to the Ancient Greek advisor of Odysseus (p. 24) What is interesting about the approach of the author is that she emphasizes the “soft” skills of understanding and judgement for people who seek career advancement, rather than the more usual emphasis on knowledge and technical skills. In theory a more experienced person has more wisdom, which comes from many years of working in an organization with a lot of different people. This intangible kind of benefit is what a mentor is most able to pass on to the chosen mentee. The book is easy to read and full of examples modelled on real life people whom the author has encountered in her long career. Some of the depictions of people are not very flattering, and it is just as well that both the first person narrator “Rachel” and the various characters in the book are fictitious. An example of this is the character Stuart, who is summed up in a little episode labelled “The Challenge of Cynicism” (pp. 76-79). The narrator Rachel was very quick to judge this person even before she had met him: “Was his smile patronizing and a bit sardonic, or was I just reacting to some of the “press releases” in his personnel file?” (p. 38) Another example is “Lily Sheldon, a genteel and proper lady who shook my hand limply and invited me to sit down” (p. 86) In the following section Rachel states that his woman reminds her of a school head-teacher, whom she also mentions by name, and comments that the woman’s office is elegantly decorated. There are implied judgements about Lily Sheldon’s social class and the way that “the Human Resources group had obviously policed themselves into very attractive surroundings” (p. 87). This kind of remark is more fitting for a romantic novel than a serious study of leadership, and it has the effect of turning the reader against the author at times. It seems that the lessons Shirley Peddy wants to impart are more to do with power games at work than supportive and constructive mentoring. The character Rachel appears in the book to be obsessively concerned with her own self-importance, and an implied ability to manipulate the whole organization according to her own agenda. Phrases like “Part One of my grand Plan was in place” (p. 87) reveal this tendency. Rachel also displays a patronizing attitude to subordinates, as for example when she allows Katy to weep for a time in her presence, in order to drive particular message home in the section entitled somewhat crassly “Katy Gets the Message” (p. 129) The book reflects a very hierarchical view of oganizations, and this means it will be useful for people who work in such a place, but in flatter management structures, with a more open style, much of it seems unnecessarily rigid. Mutual mentoring does not occur in this book, for this very reason. An unusual feature of this book is its choice to present the material in a fictional narrative form, much like a serialized story in a magazine or a novel. This has the advantage that the book is easy to follow, and contains memorable characters. Newcomers to the world of business, who are used to this approach, may find it accessible but it may be less well received by people who prefer facts and evidence rather than a collection of vague stories. The obvious fictional status of the characters, including the narrator, detracts from any serious messages. In particular the emphasis on appearances, emotional clues, and power games suggests that some of the content is only superficially useful. Deeper issues such as the sociology of the workplace, and the basis for why people behave the way they do, are insufficiently considered. This book is a quirky mixture of good and bad points. There are certainly some useful tips for dealing with people in the workplace, much of which could be summed up in advice to remain professional and treat others with respect. Some insight into the prejudices of managers is given, although this may well not have been the intention of the author, since it is she who holds most of these prejudices. There are some sensible guidelines, for example in how to recover from errors and build trust with colleagues. For these reasons, the book is not credible as an academic textbook, and its conclusions are easily challenged by citing counter examples from real life or from fiction. The lack of footnotes and theoretical referencing is a serious weakness in the book. The Bibliography at the end (p. 257) consists of only four items, and this gives the impression that the author is not really an expert on leadership, and has not done much preparation for this book. There is almost no theory, and almost only anecdote. Given these rather serious limitations, this book does not add much that is new to the subject of leadership. Its strength is that it raises interesting questions and illustrates how some mentors and mentees can relate in different contexts in the workplace. Reference Peddy, S. (2001) The Art of Mentoring: Lead, follow and get out of the way. 2nd ed. Corpus Christi, TX: Learning Connections. Read More