The World Doesn’t Need More Politicians. It Needs More Heroes
Why wait for a political revolution when you can start a business revolution in your own company? And the best part? No campaign speeches are required. Great leaders begin by learning to lead themselves—i.e., creating a personal plan to lead a bold and difference-making life. Then they learn how to lead others by inspiring them to join the cause.
Business leaders can’t change the world alone—they need to build a team that shares their passion and purpose. Case in point: sure, Batman’s got great skills, but he’s a lot more effective with Robin, Alfred, Batwoman, Chief Commissioner Gordon and Officer O’Hara!
Or, to borrow an actual business example from the ScalePassion Files, our team of superheroes works with a client whose co-founder had passion galore but could not scale his purpose to save his life … until he realized that in order to create enough headspace to work on his business, he needed to stop working so much in his business. This meant delegating routine daily and tactical meetings that bored him to death, and focusing more on developing new partnerships and products.
And the pathway to that happy place involved building out a team that could take over the day-to-day.
Why was this important? By freeing himself of what was to him the kryptonite of day-to-day management of the details, the leader felt more energized and free to focus on long-term strategy and business development. He showed up more present and positive to his team who followed his lead, found their own sweet spots within the organization, and began to feel more energized and focused.
If this sounds like a happy and shiny state of affairs to you, here’s the drill for getting there:
1. Find people who align with your purpose. The next time you’re hiring a marketing, sales, operations or finance leader, put “purpose-driven” at the top of the job description right alongside capacity for strategic thinking and other talents.
2. Cultivate a shared culture. Engage your team of superheroes in crafting a shared purpose, vision, and mission and a set of core values that align you in your goals and everyday behavior and support your deepest brand values.
3. Empower your team to take initiative. Don’t just make your team accountable—make them responsible for supporting your purpose, mission and values. They’ll feel more engaged in the business and probably even love you for it.
Top line: The world doesn’t need more politicians—it needs more heroes. Assemble your team, radiate energy, focus and purpose, and say to them every day, “Let’s get down to work.”
Here’s a little tool to get you started: it’s called the Strategic Map. It’s a simple list of eight questions that you can sit down with your team and go through at a one- or two-day offsite. Pull your team together and go through each question, giving each one about an hour and feel the collective energy radiate through your superheroes!