Why The Loss Of Myths Have Made Leadership More Difficult

Today Leadership is harder than it has been at any other point in history.

Everyone has more access to information at a faster pace, our problems are spreading to a larger chunk of the world, and our goals are spreading across space!

The scales and necessary solutions to these problems are incredibly large and complicated.

However, Leadership has been made even more difficult today by the loss of Myths in our cultures.

This is why.

What Happened

Myths are filled with heroes, villains, mentors, and allies.

These have been called "archetypes" over time.

Over time and culture, many of these archetypes have been seen repeated again and again.

Joseph Campbell in his research found many of types of archetypes and identified a consistent story told throughout cultures and time which he called, "The Heroes Journey".

However, many of these "journeys", "archetypes" and "myths" have disappeared from our lives.

Some people have dismissed them as articles of irrelevant societies.

Others have called many of these myths "heathenism" that shouldn't be trusted.

Many have also dissected these myths and completely misrepresented them by taking things out of context.

In today's world, it is rare to see anyone take any myths seriously at any level.

This has caused huge issues for Leaders.

The Result

See, Myths in previous societies played a few different roles.

All of those roles taught people important life lessons.

They taught people what it looked like to be Heroic.

They showed how even the most impressive of people can make mistakes.

They gave insights and Wisdom could be gleaned.

These Myths are almost all gone now, and often the few that are maintained aren't "really" studied or listened to.

This means that most of society no longer obtains any of these lessons.

But without these lessons, the burden has passed onto whoever is in the spotlight.

People are expecting YOU as a leader to be a Hero because they have no other examples of it in their lives.

People are expecting YOU to be impressive, without understanding that impressive people can make mistakes.

People are expecting YOU to teach them the Wisdom they need to live good lives.

On top of trying to solve all of the world's problems, people are also expecting Leaders to REPLACE myths.

So if you are doing something Heroic, people will treat you like a mythological Hero.

If you mess up, people will treat you like a mythological Villain.

People want to hear your story because they don't know of any other stories to tell people of mythological proportions.

If your story doesn't sound like it is worthy of being a "modern" myth, then people won't listen to you.

People are lacking Heroes, Villains, and Wisdom in their lives, and have been told all the stories of the past have no merit.

The Potential Solutions

There are three potential solutions to this problem, all of which will have their own difficulties.

➼ Teach People The Lost Value Of Myths

The first, and perhaps easiest, is to bring myths back into our lives.

This does not mean we start worshipping old gods and goddesses and believing that dragons exist.

Instead, what I mean here is that we show people the "power" that exists in myths.

We don't have to believe the characters are real, but we can understand what makes those characters heroes.

We may not believe that the villain was a real threat, but we can understand how to find real threats in our lives.

Perhaps the causes of each myth are for another time, but we can learn what it looks like to stand for a cause and do something in the name of strong beliefs.

However, to do this we would need to overcome thousands of years of damage to these myths and relearn their value.

➼ Create New Myths

Another option would be to create new myths in our societies.

These myths would need to be cross-cultural so that people could agree on the value of the myth.

They would also need to have values that we all believe in.

Their goals and dreams would need to make sense in the world we find ourselves in today.

However, these same things also become the problems for making this happen.

Even though we live in a more united world than in any previous time, we still have many extreme disagreements.

Many countries silently shake hands while plotting against each other.

Groups of people are more divided than perhaps they have ever been in history, at scales that span across the world.

We would need to overcome these challenges amongst ourselves to agree to a new form of myth.

➼ Become A Hero

The last option is both the fastest, but also the most difficult.

Leaders could stand up and fill in the role of Hero in the lives of those around them.

There will be tremendous pressure put on you - pressure that honestly isn't fair for anyone to be forced to take.

But that doesn't mean you can't do it.

You will need aid, just as all Heroes do.

You will need your magical weapons, your story, and your "wise mentor" figure.

You will need to face the villains of today's world and broadcast the fight for everyone to see.

You will need to be an Exemplar of your beliefs, not just "talking" about what you believe is right, but "demonstrating" what is right.

You will make mistakes, and you will be attacked by everyone that was looking up to you.

In the face of that, you will need to stand back up and prove to everyone that you are still worthy of being seen as a Hero.

You will need to reteach society that you too are human, and that it is alright for them to be human as well.

This is a monumental task for anyone to take on, and it is the most likely to have success in the timeframes we have.

Will you take the call?

Will you stand up and unlock your Heroic Potential?

Will you move forward and become a Legendary Leader?