IMO the Mysterious Old Wizards are spending time, but it’s in tracking people and understanding them, and tracking problems and understanding them. It’s said of Erdos that he was exceptionally good at matching people with problems that were just at the edge of their ability—a less skilled Erdos would have given too many people quests that didn’t cause them to grow, or quests that they failed at.
Now, maybe your response is that I’m focusing on someone who wasn’t really a MOW, and was more of a manager. There’s a form of wizardry that involves giving quests, and there’s another form of wizardry that focuses on making heroes, and while they’re related you’re interested in the second one.
I guess I’m… less convinced that the second one works through these sorts of interactions, or independently of the management aspect, or so on. The various times in my life where I’ve been a MOW to people (maybe?) I think they all involved actually being familiar with the people involved, and having a specific vision of a strength they could develop to meet a challenge that I could see.
I definitely think MOWs need to be familiar and targeted. I also think when they’re combined with mentorship and management they’re more powerful. But I definitely got my initial boost from someone who didn’t do any managing of me.
(I indeed am not sure how common my story is, hence why previously I tried to get some kind of more general query of of “how do people become ambitious”, and if you haven’t seen people become ambitious without management that’s an update for me)
IMO the Mysterious Old Wizards are spending time, but it’s in tracking people and understanding them, and tracking problems and understanding them. It’s said of Erdos that he was exceptionally good at matching people with problems that were just at the edge of their ability—a less skilled Erdos would have given too many people quests that didn’t cause them to grow, or quests that they failed at.
Now, maybe your response is that I’m focusing on someone who wasn’t really a MOW, and was more of a manager. There’s a form of wizardry that involves giving quests, and there’s another form of wizardry that focuses on making heroes, and while they’re related you’re interested in the second one.
I guess I’m… less convinced that the second one works through these sorts of interactions, or independently of the management aspect, or so on. The various times in my life where I’ve been a MOW to people (maybe?) I think they all involved actually being familiar with the people involved, and having a specific vision of a strength they could develop to meet a challenge that I could see.
I definitely think MOWs need to be familiar and targeted. I also think when they’re combined with mentorship and management they’re more powerful. But I definitely got my initial boost from someone who didn’t do any managing of me.
(I indeed am not sure how common my story is, hence why previously I tried to get some kind of more general query of of “how do people become ambitious”, and if you haven’t seen people become ambitious without management that’s an update for me)