Who You Are & Where You Came From

Well you made it, you made it not only to the end of the week, but also to another Culture Junky weekly LinkedIn Exclusive.

Earlier this week I was uploading my Monday Morning Culture Shock video to YouTube (Watch & subscribe HERE), and I was hit with an ad for a new series that just came out from Marvel Studios. At first I thought it was a new movie, but in fact it was a short limited series that I think ran for about a dozen episodes or so.

To be honest, I wasn’t even sure what superhero the series was about at first, but the way the advertisement started was by showing brief scenes from this character's childhood. Usually I get an ad and I immediately click ‘skip’ as soon as the 5 seconds of mandatory watching is up, but this one caught my eye.

Mixed in with the brief flashes of this character’s childhood we see glimpses of them as an adult now, contrasting the rough childhood the character had with them accomplishing incredible feats as an adult.

The ad might have only been for two and a half minutes, but during that time I saw glimpses into the character’s origin story. Where they came from, some tougher challenges they endured as a child before we then see flashing images of them as an incredible hero in adulthood.

You may remember a Monday Morning Culture Shock I had recorded before about The Lord of the Rings franchise, and what it did for my recruiting. How the idea of ‘A Hero’s Journey’ was one of the most profound ideas in my business that accounted for a tremendous uptick in not only recruitment, but also retention.

This short ad for the Marvel series I saw on YouTube was just that, it was giving me a very short synopsis of this hero’s journey. It certainly wasn’t the full thing, but it showed me how this hero persevered through the tough times to become the hero they are today.

That journey from struggling to figure things out to a successful conquering of whatever obstacle stands in the way, that’s the idea you as a leader have to present to people you’re trying to bring into your organization and bring along with you on your journey because that’s?your?hero’s journey. You searching for more in life, wanting to create a life you don’t need a vacation from, that is your hero’s journey, and you’re bringing the people on your team along with you for the journey.

For those who are unfamiliar, the idea of A Hero’s Journey looks something like this:

There’s an intro - this is where we see where the hero came from, the environment they were raised in. We’ll see them struggle, but we’ll also get a glimpse into what it is they want in life. This is where you will show the people hearing your origin story that you started out not so different from them. You knew you wanted more out of life, but you just weren’t sure how to get there.

Then there’s the rising action - this is where the hero accepts their quest. In the case of the Marvel series I saw it seemed like the rising action was having to stop some sort of super-villain. In your case it will be different, I don’t foresee any of us on here developing superpowers and fighting off a super-villain from another planet, but this is where you explain that you as leader began your search for more - your quest for enjoying the work week as much as you do the weekend.

Next we have the climax - in the Marvel series this would be where we see the hero triumph over evil. The good guy has won a great victory. In the case of you as a leader, this is where you explain how you did it, you created the life and team you wanted. You (and the person you’re telling your story to) have reached that place where the environment is good, the culture is good, and things have done a complete turn-around from the intro when there was struggle.?

In your origin story, your story of YOUR hero’s journey, it’s one that needs careful planning. You want to use it as a tool to convince the person you’re telling it to that if they join you on this journey, you will both persevere through the tough times, and emerge victorious. In the case of your business you’d explain how the team you’ve created has not only transformed your life, but the lives of everyone on your team.?

Everything that this person was searching for, purpose, a desire for recognition, a yearning to be engaged, all of those things are resolved when they join you on your hero’s journey.

It’s an incredibly powerful tool that you as a leader need in your back pocket.

Without it, the person may not realize that you not only understand them in their quest to reach a ‘happily ever after’, but you’re on that journey with them.

Give that some thought, give it some practice, and we’ll talk soon.