How can you move from being a hero to creating other heroes?
Today, I want to share with you a well-known Hollywood method for writing most action movie scripts and romantic comedies. You can also use this as part of your journey to making other people heroes in your organization.
A hero’s journey is the path that is taken in all the Marvel and the DC Universe movies and many others that you may watch, and it is very simple. This diagram below is what a hero’s journey looks like.
Meet Your Hero
At the start of this diagram, you meet the hero. Think about Spider-Man. In the early part of the movie, he learns how he has these new abilities.e first part of a hero’s journey is always hope.
In a romantic comedy, this is when you meet your two lovers who might get together at the end of the movie and they are just showing how cool they are and everything is amazing.
The First Challenge
After you meet the hero, you get into the first challenge. There are setbacks in life and in a hero’s movie. It is the first inkling that there are problems that lie ahead, but the hero prevails. They succeed on their journey, and continue on. And it goes well for a while, until a much larger problem. It is a long fall down in their journey.
Discover a hero's journey and transition from becoming a hero to creating other heroes. Share on XThe Spiral and Magic Sword
This fall on the hero’s journey is more of a spiral (see red in diagram below). There are a series of problems that get worse and worse, taking the hero to the point of despair where the audience is not sure that they will be successful.
What happens at the pit of despair? Think about Thor Ragnorok as an example. Thor lost his hammer and things were looking very bleak until he met Peter Dinklage who was the mastor castor who is going to make him a new hammer. At the bottom of the pit, you find out who gives you the “magic sword.”
Who gives you the magic sword in life? Maybe it is somebody that came along just when you needed someone to give you some strength, some sense of strength. After this point in most action movies, there is about a 20-minute finale where they go up against evil and they ultimately succeed.
That is the hero’s journey. Every Pixar movie goes through it. Every Marvel movie goes through it. Almost every supervisor goes through it.
Front Line Leaders
At the beginning as a front line leader, you are focused on you being the hero for your team. You are solving problems and getting the “magic sword.” You are the hero to your team.
But, what if your purpose shifted from being the hero to others, to creating heroes in others? That is what we want leaders to aspire to.
Why not help your team become the heroes? Help give them the magic sword that they need to conquer the day’s challenges to prevail. Our whole mission is dedicated to creating leadership beyond supervision, and we can help your organization do that.
