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Today, we're going to explore the idea of creating heroes.

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So what do I mean by that?

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Well, to illustrate, let me tell you two stories.

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The first is when we were running our software company, we had about 80 people and we installed

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a ship bell, this massive bell in one of the hallways and a big whiteboard.

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And anytime there was a breakthrough, it didn't matter what it was, any breakthrough, anything

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to celebrate, you'd hear the bell go ding and it was so loud, it literally reverberated

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through the entire floor of the building which we occupied.

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And so it was fantastic and then you wrote on the board what it was.

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And so whether you closed a deal or you came up with some breakthrough in technology or

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something was a breakthrough.

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We installed a new system that was now working, ding, and we'd go the bell.

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Now this idea of a bell, sometimes people would just kind of stand near the bell and

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just look at the whiteboard and just look at all the things that were going on.

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And then once a week, just erase it and start again.

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But what this did is it created a culture of celebration.

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And where that led us was to the next step which is celebrating individuals where we

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make somebody else the hero of the story.

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You know, life is really short but we have to give people their moment in the spotlight.

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They're not going to do it for themselves and if they do, you know, it's a bit awkward.

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And so this gets past just the trivial great job, good job, all that sort of generic stuff

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that generally means very little indeed.

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Something that is detailed, specific with a kind tone.

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I remember when one of our customer service people, several years ago before we had our

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modern AI tools, installed a brand new AI product in the customer service department.

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And instead of getting on a call and going, great job, thanks Natalie, good job, I stopped

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for a minute and I said, folks, you've got to know what Natalie did.

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Natalie installed a new AI program in our customer service department.

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She had no prior knowledge of AI or any program experience, yet in six weeks, she implemented

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a brand new technology and it's reduced our support calls by 50%.

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Natalie is the true hero of the story.

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And in that moment, Natalie is seen.

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At that moment, everybody turns and sees Natalie, gives her her moment.

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Now this is something I've learned over the years that making someone the hero of the

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story is a very powerful thing.

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And so what I have learned is that if you tell them in advance, before Natalie implemented

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that, she was not sure she could do it.

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Now, we gave her some very powerful support and she had the help of some very experienced

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leaders.

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Yet in that story, everybody agreed beforehand, hey guys, let's make Natalie the hero of the

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story.

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And sometimes I'll say to people, I'd love you to take on this project and you're going

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to be the hero of the story.

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I tell them my intentions upfront that I want to make them the hero of the story.

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Because a lot of people would say, well, if you acknowledge her, you have to acknowledge

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so-and-so and so-and-so.

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Well, I get that all out of the way by agreeing upfront, we're making Natalie the hero of

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the story.

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And so then, part of it is I would often write the narrative beforehand and then share it

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with them.

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It's like before Natalie started, I said Natalie, and then I gave her the script, so to speak,

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or the narrative that I just shared with you, that this is what we were going to say.

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And she told me later on, that literally upheld her through some very long nights and

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some very difficult moments.

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And she worked relentlessly, I mean, I think she probably worked 18-hour days for those

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six weeks, Saturdays and Sundays included.

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She said it really drove her through the process.

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You know, Ben Zander talks about this idea of giving people an A. So Ben Zander, who

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is the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra conductor, also teaching at music school, a lot of the

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students that come to him, master's degree students, these are people who are masters

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of their instrument.

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These are people who are incredible, talented musicians.

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And at the beginning of the year, there's this huge nervousness and this kind of competitive

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thing in the class.

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And to get rid of that, Ben said, okay, here's what we're going to do, we're going to give

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everybody an A.

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Guys, it's day one of the year, we're giving everybody an A.

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Now, what you're going to do, your homework is to go home and write a letter and post

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date it at the end of the course, nine months from now, post date it at the end of the course

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and tell me why you got an A.

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What this did is it positioned people in the reverse, instead of them...

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earning their way to a place, they started in that place and then justified why they got it.

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So, giving people an A as a leader in your mind pulls them up into a new space.

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Brian Robertson writes at great length about this concept of the heroic leader,

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whose job it is to predict and control and the fate of the enterprise is in their hands.

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Now, honestly, in a world of ever-expanding complexity, this concept is entirely unattainable

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and it's becoming less and less attainable. Look, true leaders are not heroes. True leaders

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create heroes. Let me say that again. True leaders are not heroes. True leaders create heroes.

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Look, the more heroes you create, the better your organization can pivot in difficult times.

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When the company, when the market's changing, when the company's facing challenges,

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having a group of heroes who are also a team of leaders is the best combination. You know,

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it's a huge relief to buck the trend and for the leader not feeling like you have to be the hero

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to your team. And it doesn't matter, you know, whether you have a team of three or five or you're

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the main person who leads the whole group. You don't have to be the hero to your team. Instead,

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create heroes. Now, making someone the hero of the story is a really beautiful process because it

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sends them the message. It sends a message to everyone. Everyone can excel. And how I first

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learned this, I was a 15-year-old on a young men's camp and our instructor, I noticed, kept picking

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on the one young man that everybody kind of considered the, you know, the guy who maybe

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wouldn't make it. It was a survival camp. It was tough. And he kept talking to this young man and

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made sure he felt included. Kind of the least, not that there is such a thing in reality, but

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you know, that emotional view that teenage boys tend to do with each other. But he kept talking

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about this young man as like his friend. And he kept calling him up. And when he did that, he kept

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complimenting him and making him the hero of the story. Well, the message it sent is, well, if he

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can make it, we can all make it. Everybody's included. So, it's really good to pick people in

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your organization who maybe are quiet, who maybe are in the background, who maybe don't push

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themselves forward and make them the hero of the story. You know, we've had so many situations in

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our team, because this is so deeply embedded in our culture at Brilliant, that what we do is

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we find that we're always looking to make people the hero of the story. So, everybody gets to be a

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hero several times a year, at least. Because what it does is it makes space for new leadership to

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rise in the organization. Because it gives people a profile. It helps people see what you see.

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So, it's easy for people in your team to just be overlooked or underestimated. You know, people will

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not create a profile for themselves. So, when we create one for them, when we make them the hero

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of the story, everything changes. You know, I think one of the hardest things for a leader to accept

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is that our team members will make different mistakes than we made. And it's a hard thing,

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because we don't want them to make, you know, we see their flaws maybe a bit too easily and we

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usually miss the areas they handle well. You know, or maybe areas they handle well or areas we could

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mess up in. So, we kind of project them. So, we design strict systems to keep them in line and

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protect them from failure. This is the horrible way to live. It's a horrible way to work. And it's

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certainly a horrible way to train people to fulfill a mission. So, look, heroes are born out of

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courage that comes from getting knocked down, learning, making mistakes, getting up and doing

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it again. You know, if nobody ever gets knocked down, they'll never get stronger, they'll never

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grow and they'll never learn. And that's a difficult thing for a leader to create space

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for that sort of thing to occur. Great leaders are not heroes, but they can inspire and empower

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others to become heroes. They create a clear sense of mission. They allow people to embrace

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their own mistakes and help them get up when they've been knocked down. You know, we're going

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through one of the most disruptive elements in business maybe in modern history. And in this age

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of disruption, heroes are needed more than ever. And we have the power to inspire and develop

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individuals to become and embrace challenge and become heroes, transform them into greatness.

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I think

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It's a fantastic thing. We do not know who will rise. In my experience of doing this

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over 27 entities, over 35 years, I can tell you that my intuition about this person or

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that person is usually wrong because it's always the people that will surprise you who

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suddenly rise in the organization. And that's the thing. People will rise to the occasion

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and bring about positive change. And even when the system itself is faltering, great

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leaders make stuff happen. So, I think it's time to unleash the power of the full potential

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of your team. You know, it's all upside from here. Again, remember, great leaders isn't

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trying to be the hero to your team. Great leaders is somebody who creates heroes for

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others to rise into that wonderful space. Now, as we go through this, take a minute

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and think for a second. Who can you recognize as the hero of the story? So, as an exercise,

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why don't you go to someone and say, I'm going to make you the hero of this story.

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Tell them what the narrative is going to be at the end when they complete the project.

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And then give them every kind of support they need. And if you're pulling other people in,

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tell them, my friend, hey, we're going to make Natalie the hero of the story.

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Get everybody's buy-in. And when you have that moment and Natalie has made the hero of the story,

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you're going to find that creating a lot of Natalies in your organization is going to

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accelerate your business in ways you never imagined. Hope you enjoyed it.