Firstly, coaching is forward-focused, so unlike therapy or counselling, which aim to unravel the past to enable you to move forward, coaching starts at the present and focusses on developing the awareness and skill to move forward to create the future.
Mentoring is the art of telling. It is someone who has experience of where you are right now and will share their experiences and give you the answers on how to move forward.
Coaching is the art of asking. Although it is useful to have a similar experience to the client, it is not imperative, as coaching comes from the mindset that the client has all the answers within themselves. They need the opportunity, through questioning and exploration, to know what that answer is and, in doing so, make a decision based on what meets their core needs and not someone else’s.