Search for the Hero Inside Yourself
What does this year hold for you?
January suggests fresh perspectives and new beginnings. Workwise, you might be busy with strategy and planning. Or, if your financial year is beginning, goals are being set, and projects are starting. What’s on your horizon? Maybe you’re driving growth or leading a change initiative – digital, sustainability, culture. Or are you seeking a promotion or a career change? It’s a time of possibilities, learning and renewal.
The path ahead is often challenging.
Everything seems to flow smoothly in the early days of new year ventures, often boosted by your holiday feeling. The leadership is supportive; you have a team and a budget and have built your plan. However, all too soon, the first obstacle appears, and the path ahead seems more complex. In the military, we used to say, “No plan survives first contact with the enemy.”.
Challenges arise from many sources. The Collins English Dictionary word of 2022 was permacrisis, “an extended period of instability and insecurity”. Our volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world casts long shadows that increase costs, disrupt supply chains, and threaten cyber security. Businesses have to anticipate and adapt, leading to the reprioritisation of plans and resources.
Competitive, reputation and regulatory pressures often highlight the gaps in internal strategy and planning alignment. More questions are asked, and proof of value and progress is sought. People who seemed supportive now appear sceptical. It can leave you feeling a bit discombobulated and disheartened. Remember that you haven’t failed, and you are not alone.
Persist, Pivot or Concede.
In his book Greenlights, Matthew McConaughey says, “It’s a matter of how we see the challenge in front of us and how we engage with it. “Persist, pivot, or concede. It’s up to us, our choice every time.”
What influences your choice? External factors might include your manager’s support or previous experience overcoming a setback. Internal factors reflect your sense of purpose, values and beliefs. Wild Learning identifies seven dimensions of a resilient mindset: mindful agency, curiosity, belonging, sense-making, creativity, collaboration, and hope and optimism. Self-awareness through learning is a route to thrive. Sometimes, you have to search for the hero inside yourself.
“You’ve got to search for the hero inside yourself
Search for the secrets you hide
Search for the hero inside yourself
Until you find the key to your life.”
Combating adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength.
A hero or heroine is defined as “a real person or a main fictional character who combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or strength in the face of danger”.
Most action movies use the Hero’s Journey as their narrative archetype. Examples include Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, The Hunger Games, Interstellar, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, and Finding Nemo.
The Hero’s Journey has three acts and provides a “human” appreciation of the quest missing from a Gantt chart.
- Act 1 in the Ordinary World – Set-up and Incitement
- Act 2 in the Special World – Conflict and Setback
- Act 3 is back in the Ordinary World – Resolution and Climax.
Change-maker’s compass and chart.
Your sense of purpose is the compass for your change journey: your north star. And the Hero’s Journey is your chart to navigate from uncertainty to solution. The story structure has twelve stages:
| 1 | Ordinary World | Limited awareness of a problem |
| 2 | Call to Adventure | Increased awareness |
| 3 | Refusal of the Call | Reluctance to change |
| 4 | Meeting with the Mentor | Overcoming reluctance |
| 5 | Crossing the Threshold | Committing to change |
| 6 | Test Allies and Enemies | Experimenting with first change |
| 7 | Approach the Inmost Cave | Preparing for a big change |
| 8 | Ordeal | Attempting a big change |
| 9 | Seizing the Sword | Consequence of the attempt |
| 10 | Road Back | Rededication to change |
| 11 | Resurrection | Final attempt at a big change |
| 12 | Return with Elixir | Final mastery of the problem |
Meeting with the Mentor
How does the Hero’s Journey relate to your challenge? Where can curiosity uncover hidden insights? How can collaboration connect you with other projects? Where can creativity find innovative solutions? Who can support you with hope and optimism?
How do you overcome:
- “We tried it before, and it didn’t work.”
- “What difference will it make?”
- “It’s not a good use of our money.”
- “It’s not how we do things here.”
- “I think we should do it a different way.”
Successfully delivering change requires much more than previous experience and expertise. It is boosted by:
- learning about situations, cultures, belief systems, and worldviews,
- communicating and influencing your wider connected network, and
- having compassion for yourself, your organisation, and your stakeholders.
The change-maker’s journey is more fun and fulfilling in the company of others. Choose your fellowship wisely. Who are the ‘five’ people you need around you – your partner, best friend, work buddy, manager, mentor, coach? Who will help you to navigate your “ordinary and special world”?
