The New Hero’s Journey: Finding Success through Others

In the study of myth and folklore, the monomyth is the hero’s journey that has been used as a common framework for transmedia storytelling in books, films, games, etc…

Joseph Campbell, famed professor/author of comparative mythology and religion, describes the pattern of the hero’s journey as:

“A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow humanity.”

This monomyth architecture is still a viable framework in the modern world, with one catch — there is no longer a single hero.

What we’ve learned (and are still learning) is that we are all on life’s journey with a unique story to tell. We are all heroes if we choose to be, and all of our individual narratives intertwine, intersect, and connect as we move along the hero’s path.

Modern technology has taken the monomyth model and splintered it into millions and millions of personal journeys. We all have the ability to capture, share and experience the adventures intrinsic within each one of our stories. Even more, we now have the ability to help each along the way.

In this new world, the multiverse of heroes rules the day.

In Forbes Magazine, entrepreneur Chris Myers described how he used the monomyth to tell his company’s story:

“One of the final stages of the hero’s journey is the return home. For BodeTree, it wasn’t so much a return as a path forward. Now that we had discovered product/market fit and gained traction, we set out on a path to execute. We entered into the market older, wiser, and prepared to face any challenge that came our way.

When I tell this story to people, I can see that it resonates in a way that a typical elevator pitch does not. The hero’s journey framework makes things personal, relatable, and interesting. The key is to tap into the archetypes and monomyth structures that we all know and connect with in order to make connections with people’s emotions. Adopting this structure to tell our story has been transformational, and I highly encourage my fellow entrepreneurs try it themselves.”

The wrinkle that people and businesses are just beginning to discover, is that when everyone is a hero, it begs the question — is one hero’s journey more important than another?

This is the struggle we are seeing play out across the globe in every socio-political-economic environment. At both micro and macro levels, we are all vying for the top hero position. But by climbing, crawling, and stepping over each other in this race for visibility, importance, and stature, we are missing the entire point…

In our new hero’s multiverse, each one of our stories is interconnected with our neighbor’s. We only return as hero by enabling the heroics of all those on the journey with us.