A Consultant's View
Prairie Trail Software, Inc. ............................................................. May 2007
Video games have become part of our culture, offering both the best and the worst of humanity. Some are the fantasy of unbridled destruction and depravation, while others offer the heroic journey or building of a society.
The same thing happens in the corporate life. Some corporations strive to better society, some work to help people, and some offer nothing more than destroyed lives and ruined landscapes.
The Heroic Journey offers a way for a corporation to build up people and society. The concepts come from the fact that a hero can never exist outside of a society.
Joseph Campbell outlines the heroic story that occurs in the myths of every society. In this story, people are called out to take the challenge, struggle past many obstacles along the journey, face deep choices about themselves, and come back home both changed by the journey and bringing outside knowledge.
This story structure offers a means to criticize incomplete games, stories, and corporate strategies. Just as games that don't offer a resolution cheat us out of the value of the struggle, corporate strategies that take from society without giving anything back are eventually destroyed by society (e.g. Enron). Corporate cultures that offer personal sacrifice, and never the transformation, are burned up by those sacrifices.
What can corporate life learn from the Heroic Journey? People are at different points in their journey. Some have never started; others see only the struggle and fight against those they see as standing in their way (e.g. young technical people engrossed in their latest project forget about the corporate goals). Others have given up on their journey and need hope again. And some use the journey as the model for starting their own companies.
Corporations are criticized about how they make a lot of money at the expense of many. Criticism is fast, furious, and based on a corporate shortcoming-- the lack of education on what it means to be in business. Heroes who have made it through the struggle haven't brought the knowledge of how difficult it is to make a profit.
We are not on this journey all by ourselves. Solitary achievement is the dream of the fourteen year old, and we quickly learn that it is not doable. On the journey, we will always face challenges and and the need to build alliances with others.
The Heroic Journey is part of our genetic makeup. By using the metaphor of the journey, we can identify where we are in the process and see what changes we may face in our lives.
In describing the Heroic Journey, Robert Lebow notes a number of behavioral types. He notes that we could be Mavericks, 9-5ers', Dissidents, or Heroes. Each has a vital place on the corporate team and diversity is important.
The Heroes are the ones that lead the group onward to the results that the group needs. Here in Texas, the image is that of the Texas Ranger who kicks the door down where a criminal is hiding, while the rest of the team debates how much backup they need before they attack. The hero may have issues with listening to the rest of the group and not running too far ahead of what they can do.
The Maverick is constantly coming up with new ideas and dreams. He or she is the creative spark of a team. Without these constant new ideas, the team stagnates and loses touch with the market. You can only have a few though, too many Mavericks and they explode.
9-5er's are the backbone of any team. They get the job done and uphold the organization; however, 9-5ers can get "arthritis" and become "calcified".
Dissidents are important, albeit annoying, members of a team. They see when management is on another counterproductive fad, instead of truly leading. Dissidents help sharpen fuzzy thinking and identify weaknesses that would doom an effort if not corrected.
So, do you have proper "diversity" in your group? A group of Heroes falls apart as each goes a different direction. A group of 9-5er's will keep doing the same thing as the company falls apart. A bunch of mavericks can "party hard" and never deliver. Dissidents, in a group, spend all their time arguing with each other. But in proper proportions, a good mix works together and produces great results.
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Dave Randolph,
President, Prairie Trail Software