Can't say that this is false but some successful individuals learned from their previous mistakes making themselves, their own mentors in life. But it is true, many people chasing success are learners towards other people who already made it. There are also some who are paying other people to coach them and there's nothing wrong with it as well as long as you are going in line with your goal. This is just how inspiration works; first ones to finish the race will wait for the others and those who are behind will follow the path first ones' took. As long as you are learning, regardless of who you are 'following' then that's good.
I believe that the environment in which we grow up and communicate becomes our first guide, the one whose views and concepts become important to us. First, the family, proper upbringing, and the value of education that the family explains, then the society we come to based on our interests. Those who spend their entire lives communicating with people who have resigned themselves to their poverty and are not ready to go further than they have will never be successful. But even people born into poor families who understand that they are not ready to vegetate can make their way on their own, and on the contrary, they do not need nannies who will push them through life. It is not the mentor that is important, but the desire to live better.
Last line is making a strong point and I will agree to it. There are a lot of mentors including those which are self proclaimed but not all people are having the desire to become successful. Some are indeed just having idealization of what does it feel to achieve success but are not even exerting effort or actions to put things in real life. Same goes with how learning process takes place from the book to the reader; it depends on how the reader will absorb the message the author meant to deliver to its audiences.