"The Art of Mentoring" by Darlene Zschech

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Darlene Zschech. Art of Mentoring, The: Embracing the Great Generational Transition. Bethany House, 2011. 187 pgs. 

If you read the title and description of this book, even if you read the introduction, you will get the impression that what this book is about is mentoring across the generation gap. Helping those who have more experience in ministry and life to mentor those with less. You would be wrong. Somewhere between the introduction and the first chapter, there is a shift. Instead of being about the art of mentoring, this book is about the fourteen values that Darlene Zschech wants to encourage leaders to model. These fourteen values range from what you would expect (humility, excellence, and people) to some less so (energy, genius, and the squeeze).  They all make sense as stand alone values, though how they were chosen is beyond me, but they do not fit together well as a book. 

Therein lies my problem. There are may great things in this book; good advice, wisdom, interesting stories, etc. However, it just doesn't fit together. That and the fact that I was expecting something entirely different lead to my own experience of this book being a disappointment. I don't want to say it is a bad book; it's not. But I also cannot recommend it. Have you ever had a teacher whom you knew to be brilliant, but whose gift was not teaching? I felt that way in reading this book. Clearly Darlene Zschech has a lot of wisdom to pass on. I have no doubt that those she mentors are blessed. This book simply fails to communicate that wisdom. 

Conclusion: 3 Stars. Not Recommended. You can learn from this, have no doubt. But there are better places to go. 

"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.
Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group".

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