Emphasis Preaching Journal

The term "role model" is almost a cliche today among the professional and vocational disciplines. Unfortunately, it is not always clear as to what the idea does or doesn't include. In some areas it can be a positive factor whereas in another it may be a wrong agent. In a practical sense it may work helpfully in the case of watching how another "does it," for example, the medical practitioner or the defense lawyer or the architect. But for a speaker to ape another can produce an artificial sameness and thereby destroy originality.