In gaming, the term sherpa refers to a person who is an experienced gamer and helps out newer players get through hard levels. This is not purely a guiding function — you’re not just invited to tag along and watch. It’s a more boutique type of support where you do your thing, but here and there the sherpa will take some load off your shoulders or provide some guidance. Part support, part personal trainer. This allows the player to learn and to get into their own flow, but with a safety net provided by a more experienced player.
Incidentally, this is pretty much how I think about a big part of role as an advisor. My job at its best is to provide just the support a client needs in their current situation so that they can run things their own way, but knowing that there’s someone there who has their back.
You’re running an organization or team, evolving it, maybe growing it. You’re navigating waters that are either uncharted or simply not yet known to you. There’s a chance I can help you get through some of your challenges, questions or moments of doubt. (We all have them, also and especially in a lead role.) Sometimes, this is through experience, because I’ve done or seen something comparable elsewhere. Sometimes it’s through methodology, by offering a mental model to analyze the situation, to shed a new light, offer a new perspective. At other times, it’s through sparring, through joint exploration of a question: Ideas get better through thorough cross-examination from different points of view.
Anyway. This model seems helpful.
