Imagination and dreams seem to come of nowhere. They deliver a hint of a new way things could be and then leave you, knowing the difference...
This is always the start of any Hero’s Journey and it is sneaky, because if you have a shred of entrepreneurial spirit you now have to make a choice. Do you do something about this flash of an idea or not?
Life and business is full of people who answered the call of their dreams and imagination. They are all on a journey, the “Hero’s Journey” and as Joseph Campbell found out, it is like a human operating system that steers us in our maturation as social beings in every cultural group.
The Hero's journey
Every story starts at the beginning. Unaware of his greatness the hero lives his life in innocence (the Innocent). Life is good, life is today, life is now. Then something happens in their world to change all of that. It is the call of their destiny. Either person they may want to be like or a great idea awakens something inside of them. Something they know about their call to destiny.
Our Hero decides to go on a little journey of exploration (The Fool) not committing to anything but simply wanting to know little more. What they have learned in the past is no longer valid. They have to learn new ways of thinking and new skills. They have reached The Outlaw stage. Life is new, different and interesting. They find The Mentor. someone who has been on this journey before. It is also a choice point. Do they take the journey and commit to it, or do they go back to their old life? Many return at this point.
But for those that choose to proceed The Seeker personality comes to the fore. How to get this dream or idea to work is the goal, until they find their first client or Investor (The Lover). This spurs on the Hero into full commitment. Their actions are to achieve more sales. more clients and more success. The Achiever)
And so life continues until...he faces the challenge. This is the test in every business. It could be a rival comes into the picture, cash flow issues, key staff leaving... lack of supply. The challenge may seem insurmountable. Our hero is reduced to Everyman, cut from his perch. It is a challenge of the spirit, for not overcoming this will take him back to the start of his journey, back into hiding, back into not following his greatness.
The secret however he will discover is found within. That is where The Hermit lays waiting to be consulted. The inner wisdom that guides our hero into transforming his current circumstances into a new approach, a new lease of life (The Magician) that he can then take out to the marketplace. As a result of overcoming and transforming this adversity he becomes the expert in this field and reaps the reward of "the Ruler" at the same time claiming his birthright.
Application to business
The Hero’s Journey Joseph Campbell found is in the cultural myths of all peoples. The personalities contained in the journey are known to us all so imtimately and each personality (marketype) has cultural significance to us.
Businesses and organisations can find their with values aligning to one of the Marketypes. Innocent for example is how Coke tends to portray itself. Virgin on the other hand is more The Outlaw.
We can use this system to understand your specific culture and position your business accordingly.
We can also map your existing competitors to uncover the opportunities to fast track your success by avoiding marketypes that are already well established and finding the ones that are open to be owned by you.
The Hero's Journey is a psychological approach to market dominance. It still requires the various market approaches to consolidate your ownership. Owning the marketype adds another level of influence that is as palpable as it is authentic. Positioning then becomes even more compelling. Culture becomes more real.
