The Hero's Journey-By Dede Henley

“We have not even to risk the adventure alone.  For the heroes of all time have gone before us.  The labyrinth is thoroughly known. We have only to follow the thread of the hero path.  And where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a God.  And where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves.  And where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our existence.  And where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world.”

-Joseph Campbell The Hero's Journey

Joseph Campbell, who was an American cultural anthropologist, had a lifelong passion for myth.  He spent most of his career exploring how ancient myths like the Hero’s Journey are relevant to modern life. In our work with leaders we use the Hero's Journey as a way of viewing challenges, failures and breakdowns.

Every great adventure movie has the hero’s journey as its backbone.  In “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” Dr. Indiana Jones, is hired by the U.S. Government to find the Ark of the Covenant, which is believed to still hold the ten commandments. Unfortunately, agents of Hitler are also after the Ark. Indy, and his ex-flame Marion escape from various close scrapes in a quest that takes them from Nepal to Cairo.  

In the movie, our unwitting hero, Indiana Jones, who is just going along with his life – on the “old road,” so to speak, is called into an adventure. As he moves down into the descent, he is tested, even with a pit of snakes!  And at various times, the whole thing doesn’t seem to be such a great idea.  Still he travels on until he makes the descent, completes the adventure and returns to the community with the gift, the Ark of the Covenant.

Indeed, some of us don’t welcome an “adventure.”  Even as we fall over the edge of the “cliff”, we scratch and scrape in an attempt to go back to our old lives – back up to the old road.  We would welcome sameness.  But, if we persist and keep going, we will come to the bottom, wherein lies the gift. 

The “gift” is what we learn, or gain, whether it is an increase in our maturity and wisdom, or literal lessons along the way.  Once we’ve had a baby, we become a “gift” to soon-to–be mothers:  We have already made this descent.  We know the terrain. Once we’ve made it through the trials of executive leadership, we become a model for other leaders to come.  We know what it takes to keep persevering, to come up and out the other side onto higher ground.  This is the nature of the hero’s journey.

Our job is to return back to our community with the gift.  To bring something of value back.  To know that our ordeals count for something remarkable.  This is what gives us access to power. We are not hapless victims of circumstance.  We are heroes.