How Batman and Air Jordan Can Help You Fly As An Engineering Leader

New engineering leaders often ask me "What's one thing I can learn early that will make a big impact in my leadership?"

My answer is "Find your origin story and start sharing it with your trusted allies."

In entertainment, an origin story is an account or backstory revealing how a character or group of people become a protagonist or antagonist.?

In American comic books, it also refers to how characters gained their superpowers.

For example, the trauma of his parents' murder serves as the origin story for the popular comic book superhero Batman. (One of my favorite childhood comic books besides Spider-Man.)

In sports, one of my favorite examples is the origin story of Air Jordan, a line of basketball shoes produced by Nike.

The first Air Jordan shoe was produced for basketball player and legend Michael Jordan during his time with the Chicago Bulls on November 17, 1984, and released to the public on April 1, 1985. The shoes were designed for Nike by Peter Moore, Tinker Hatfield, and Bruce Kilgore.

The Jordan Logo, known as the "Jumpman", originated from a photograph by Jacobus Rentmeester, taken before Jordan played for Team USA in the 1984 Summer Olympics.

If you haven’t seen it yet, I highly recommend watching Air. Air is a 2023 American biographical sports drama film directed by Ben Affleck and written by Alex Convery. The film is based on true events about the origin of Air Jordan, of which a Nike employee seeks to strike a business deal with rookie player Michael Jordan. It has fascinating storytelling.

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How does this apply to engineers??

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Well, if you think about it, we all have an origin story that began with a moment in our lives (a painful or a joyful memory) when our current identity was created. Something happened that caused a transformation, a tension in our environment that led us to make a choice that is still the nuclear force of everything we do today. It's like your why of your why (referring to Simon Sinek's book Start with Why.)

Mine was when my grandma asked me a question at around age 5 about her death.?

You can read about it here:?https://www.andreaclough.com/articles/my-grandmas-biggest-gift-to-me-3-2022

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Discovering your origin story will:

1. Give you the ability to understand and realize something about an important event in your life after it has happened, although you did not understand or realize it at the time.?

2. This hindsight will serve you to develop your foresight as a leader - your ability to see what is likely to happen in the future and to take appropriate action(s).

3. These two abilities (hindsight and foresight) will empower you:?

• ?to make better and faster decisions,?
• to be able to see connections between things that others don't see and?
• to be able to articulate these connections in a way that others can easily understand.

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{Offer for my LinkedIn community members:

If you are among the first ten engineers who sends me your draft origin story, I'd be happy to review it and send you my feedback.}

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But knowing your origin story is not enough.

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My answer had a second part that most engineers don’t hear or ignore because they don’t know how to do it.

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?"Find your origin story and start sharing it with your trusted allies."

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This is a skill engineering leaders ask me about a lot. It is called storytelling.

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• Is that really important in my career?
• Does it really matter in?leadership?
• How do I improve my storytelling skills?

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If you are an?engineer?who would like to transition into a better paying role with more impact, responsibility, and authority in the future, you might have heard about storytelling, too.

And you might be asking similar questions. (If you have different ones, of course send them to me, I am curious what's on your mind.)

And the answer to the first question is one you already know and feel in your gut.

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It is important. It is important because it is how you will share your origin story with those who are on your side, who have been seeing your potential from the beginning, and who want to support you to succeed.

Like Alfred Pennyworth is the Wayne family butler and the legal guardian of Bruce Wayne aka Batman, following the murder of his parents.

Like Deloris Jordan is Michael Jordan's mom and she had the cool presence to negotiate a deal on her son's behalf that forever changed his future and the sports industry (Jordan Air). You can say that this mother’s love was truly worth its weight in gold.

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Your leadership is not a role or a job title that your HR department has given to you when you got hired.

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Leadership is the responsibility and the trust that is bestowed upon you by others in order to guide them to their “promise land”.

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By knowing your origin story, you discover who you are a leader, what you are good at, what you are not so good at and you understand that leadership is not about never failing. It is about trying and failing and falling but the most important thing is to know how to stand up when you are down. All that knowledge is in your origin story. By sharing it with others you remember your purpose, your strengths and your meaning in life and you give permission to others to remember theirs, too. We connect through storytelling and we feel connected through acknowledging who we are – including the good, the bad and the beautiful.

How do I improve my storytelling skills?

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A good start and a low risk action might be to do a 15-min research into what storytelling even means.

If you want to spend a few hours learning more about storytelling, you might want to pick up a book and read about it a little bit more in depth.

Here's my short list and someone's long list for you to choose from.

Remember don't commit to reading all these books.

Pick one and get started.

And if you don't like that book, choose a different one.

Just stay curious and willing to explore.

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My short list:

• Stories That Stick by?Kindra Hall
• Story or Die by Lisa Cron
• Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die by?Chip Heath?and?Dan Heath
• Your Stories Don't Define You. How?You Tell Them Will:?Storytelling?to?Connect,?Persuade, and?Entertain?by?Sarah Elkins

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Frank's long list of 15 Must-Read Books That Will Make You An Outstanding Storyteller:

https://medium.com/@frankheijdenrijk/15-must-read-books-that-will-make-you-an-outstanding-storyteller-553ecaf006a1

Thanks?Frank Heijdenrijk?for the great article!

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Extra Stuff:

Test Your Executive Presentation Skills

If you would like to know "How strong are my executive senior level proposals and presentations to the board?"

Here's a quiz to find out:?https://simplyamazingtraining.co.uk/test-yourself

Thanks?Dee Clayton?and?Simply Amazing Training Ltd?for the great resource!

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Are you looking to improve your storytelling skills fast?

Here are some tips on how through intentional practice you can quickly improve your storytelling skills:

1. Record a 2 min video and share it with your best friend, your neighbor, your coach or your mother. Call it “My worst take on telling my story.” This way you set low expectations for yourself and for others. Who can give you worst feedback than this being the worst video you have made? Taking a small action is better than not taking action at all.
2. Record 3 versions of your origin story and send it to three people. Ask them for 2 specific feedback, like What stood out in my body language and my tone of voice to you? Or What was most surprising to you in my story? Focus the feedback on collecting data that you can then use to take action to improve your pitch.
3. Organize a house party called Our TED Talk Version of Sharing Our Origin Stories. Gather 3-4 friends and take turns “getting on the stage” and sharing your stories. Make it fun and lighthearted. Take the pressure off from performing perfectly and focus on practicing. You could also get a microphone and have a jar filled with different themes to help you laugh about how crazy easy and fun it is to tell your story. (Suggested themes: you are on a sinking ship, you are riding on a horse, you are tapdancing, you are wakeboarding, so on.)

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The earlier you get started, the less fearful your leadership journey will become.

The sooner you step to the edge of your unknown, the more of the amazing impact you will see in front of you.

Your view will open up as a leader. Your courage will grow. Your leadership presence will invite people to connect with you.

Your origin story will attract true friends who will never leave your side, no matter where your leadership journey will take you.

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Choose to live life differently.

To follow my work, visit www.andreaclough.com.

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