Four gentlemen are walking around Jerusalem looking for a business mentor. It almost sounds like an opening line to a long joke.

The truth is the opposite. Over the past 6 weeks, I have become acquainted with four people from the Jerusalem area. I do not believe they know each other. They grew up on three different continents. Their social backgrounds reveal no obvious synergy. Academically, their skills range from the ultra brainy down to school drop out. Two are quiet types and two will not stop interrupting.

On the commercial front, they are all trying to set up in Israel for the first time, but again in four diverse fields; publishing, internet, trade and home services. Their prior experience ranges from decades down to months. If you were to put them all in a room together, you would come up with a list of talents several lines long.

So why have they sought out a business mentor? What is the common theme?

While chatting with one of these gentlemen earlier this week, I suddenly realised that there was a trait or characteristic that the four of them possessed in equal amounts. For all their vision, none of them allow themselves to focus on achieving their key ambitions. It is as if they deliberately try to sidetrack themselves.

Here is what I mean:

• Adam (not his real name) looks to discuss grand theories of life, avoiding the specifics of his business.
• Bryan talks of his competitors, and at length, but not about what he should be doing.
• Colin comes up with new ideas, often good ones, at every meeting, but does not try to consolidate what he has achieved to date.
• David likes to contemplate his next move, for hours, but rarely crosses over to the conversion side of this thought process.

And that is where classic business mentors can make the difference. They can break the mold of these patterns of behaviour, which may seem brilliant to the incumbent. It is the mentor who can bring them to understand and to internalise that these ‘business models’ only result in minimal income

It is the role of a business coach to show clients that something has to change and why. The question is whether these gentlemen or other people like them are up for that challenge.