And, it sure is a powerful, useful and amazing tool to have as a speaker. I call it your Super Hero Origin Story. Don’t get hung up on Super Hero, it’s really about your Origin story! Watch this video, it’s only 3 min. long. Then come back here and I’ll share a little more about why I think it’s one of the most important tools you could ever develop.
Finding Your Super Hero Origin Stories.
Here’s the point, and I’ll tell you a quick story, to make that point.
Recently, I worked with a Fortune Top 20 Company on a big Customer Summit they were holding. As an aside, all of the top Executives with whom I worked started working with me in May, and then worked with me in June, July, August, September, again in September on site, and then they delivered their speeches in September. So, that’s almost 6 months of real work they did with me to prepare a 10 to 12 minute TED-like talk. I find that inspiring. And, I’ll tell you what, the talks were fabulous.
After the two-day event I was speaking with Janie (not her real name), the woman whom I had been working with most closely and I asked her how the event went. She gave me a radiant smile and said, “John this was the best event of my 25-plus year career here.”
Of course, I smiled big and said, “Wow, that’s awesome, Janie. If I had anything to do with that I would be stoked.”
And she said, “Oh no, no, no John… You had a lot to do with that.” Of course, that’s a great compliment, which I gratefully acknowledge. But, it also really scared me! It made me realize I needed to figure out why. I wanted to be able to pinpoint it and explain why it had gone so well. So I really thought about it hard. And, I came up with the concept for my next book out of it, and I had a few big ah ha’s I’ll be sharing, later. And, what’s the short story answer?
Well, the short story is that because all of these people were willing to find and hone one of their many superhero origin stories and then include those stories in their talks the audience quite simply fell in love with them. This is where a lot of great TED talks get their power. It’s also likely something you remember about great leaders you’ve worked with did.
As I said, I had a big insight that I’m going to share with you soon, it’s going to be the title of my next book, it’s going to be a new website that I’m going to create, and so I hope you stay with me and keep watching for that. And, the long story short is that your superhero origin stories are some of the most powerful stories that you could possibly share with people. A well told Origin Story gives listeners a way to connect with you emotionally. It gives people a way to feel trust for you, loyalty for you and it actually has them want to do what you’re asking them to do. It clears the way for them to go take action on your requests.
So, the point is: Find your Superhero Origin Stories, craft them well and then share them!
