Nice post.

The Leaper reminds me a bit of a mentor of mine. Whenever I'd say something that was half-examined, some trite bit of collective wisdom that I picked up and re-transmitted without filtering...not even trying to pull anything over on him, not necessarily even about something related to the primary topic at hand...he'd immediately question me on it. Ask something incisive, with a steady gaze leveled at me. Make me realize that my content was weak, make me analyze my claims, justify and defend them. Effectively say, "I know you're not adding value here. I know you're just phoning this in." Not out of ill will, not to embarrass or deride me; just to make me realize. I learned pretty quickly to think about the words that came out of my mouth when talking to him, to ensure they were genuine and defensible.