Choose Your Role models carefully…
Heroes are a force, from the original superhero Superman, to the Fantastic Four, to the current television hit titled, well, Heroes. Ordinary people discover they possess special powers: the ability to travel through time, to heal, to see into the future, and perhaps to save the world! And when they become our heroes, they change us, too.

In nearly a decade of coaching, I've slowly discovered the powerful role heroes play in the lives of everyday leaders.

Most leaders I talk with can name a few people they consider to be heroes. These heroes exert unique power in the lives of the leaders who admire them. In the real world, ordinary people have the power to inspire leaders toward their heroic example. In his research on authentic leadership, Boas Shamir of Hebrew University in Israel found that leaders who spend time reflecting on persons they admire "start to define or re-define themselves through their role models." Truly, what we consider we become.

Since 2000, I've asked hundreds of leaders from all over North America, "Who are your heroes?" In fact, I begin every coaching relationship with the question because the responses are so revealing. Heroes are found in likely and unlikely places: family trees and family Bibles, history books and summer novels, mythic stories and first-hand encounters.

Speeding Bullet Points
Walking alongside the people I have coached, I've noticed the impact heroes have. In fact, I've made three observations about the role of heroes in the lives of leaders. Now that you have considered your own heroes, you might benefit from these observations.

	Before reading further, take a few minutes to consider your own personal heroes.

The first observation is the ease or difficulty with which a leader can name his/her heroes. What about you? Were you able to quickly access your heroes? Maybe the first one came without much effort and the others took some pondering. Or perhaps you had to really think about it and even then had a hard time putting the hero label on someone. Or maybe, for whatever reason, you couldn't name anyone who serves as a hero in your life.

When it comes to naming one's heroes, I've noticed a distinct pattern: the progress a leader makes in moving toward his goals is directly correlated with the degree of speed and certainty with which he can name his heroes. The pattern is most obvious in the negative: I've never coached leader who is unable to name a hero and who also makes substantial progress toward real goals.

Jesse is a leader of a small enterprise on the coast of North Carolina. When I asked about his heroes, he was speechless. After a while, he pushed back on the question, saying he thought it improper to grant someone hero status.

I allowed that if he found the word hero problematic, he could simply share the names of persons he admired and modeled his life after. He still resisted. Finally, he shared that there was nobody he sought to emulate and that he led his life according to what seemed right at the time, not some set of admirable qualities or role models.

I've known Jesse for almost five years now and his leadership journey is marked by inconsistency, fits and starts, and quite a bit of struggle. He fits the pattern of leaders who lack heroes and struggle to make real progress.

There could be a host of reasons for this pattern, but my chief theory is that having heroes demonstrates a mature level of self-reflection and self-awareness. Heroes don't fuel the leadership journey; they are evidence that the leader has fuel. In simple terms, leaders with heroes have thought about what kind of person they want to be, while those who don't have heroes lack a certain degree of self-awareness. Such awareness is necessary for a person to fully engage the leadership role and stay committed to the leadership journey.

Locomotive powered
The second observation I've made about heroes has to do with the source and impact. There are four basic categories of heroes: Familiar, Famous, Faith, and Fictional. For each type I have noticed a pattern of power and peril. They may have positive influence on the journey of the admirer, or the drawbacks associated with that type may offer a bad example.

	Look back at your Personal Heroes Inventory. Think about the category in which each hero fits best. If you struggled with coming up with your heroes, you may want to use the categories to jumpstart your thinking.

Recently I talked with a very successful pastor in Manhattan who shared that his two biggest heroes are his grandfather and Winston Churchill. His example underscores the importance of balance in hero types. I have noticed that leaders who have heroes from two or more categories seem to avoid many of the perils associated with those types, while leaders whose heroes all come from a single category typically suffer the peril associated with that category.

Multiple types of heroes seem to balance out one another and provide a fuller spectrum of what it means to be a leader, thus having a stronger, more positive impact in the leader's life. The pastor from Manhattan, with Family and Famous types represented in his hero mix, has the best of both worlds: an intimate portrait of a well-lived life (grandfather) and a "reach for the stars" hero who reminds him of the seismic impact a leader can have. The result is a leader with a sense of destiny who lives each day with determination.

Powerpuff, girl
So what good are heroes? And, more specifically, what do they give those of us who are on the leadership journey? My third observation is that heroes show leaders definite areas for personal growth. This happens in two ways.

First, a hero often embodies a quality or ability the leader doesn't possess (yet). For instance, Carl is a vice president in the petroleum industry. He often backs down from confrontation and avoids conflicts he ought to engage.

	Look at your personal heroes list again. Do your heroes embody traits you already have and want to make work better in your life? Or are you drawn to your heroes because they possess what you lack? Knowing what draws you to admire a hero can help increase the impact the hero has in your leadership journey.

One of Carl's heroes is William Wallace, the Scottish rebel made famous by Mel Gibson in the movie Braveheart. Wallace's courage of conviction and willingness to fight with passion inspire Carl to do the same. Carl's sentiment is "Wallace is my hero because I want to be more like him. I think if I were, I'd be more successful."

A second function of a hero is to demonstrate a successful expression of a quality or ability the leader already possesses to some degree. For instance, Jill is a manager who naturally leans toward a style of leadership that is inclusive and collaborative. She's found a lot of success with this style and is proud that she doesn't have to be "pushy" in order to get what she wants. She also has no ambition to climb the corporate ladder or seek positional leadership.

She names as one of her heroes Juror #8, Henry Fonda's character in 12 Angry Men, a person who demonstrated the ability to influence through nuance and indirect persuasion and who is not in a formal leadership role. In Jill's case, she is not looking to initiate a heroic trait, but to heighten that expression in her life.

Join the Justice League
Now that you've considered your heroes and noticed three ways your heroes impact your leadership journey, what's your next step? I'd suggest four common actions for getting the most from your heroes.

1. Share your heroes with someone. Talk with your spouse or a coach or a friend. Share who your heroes are and what you admire about your heroes.



2. Spend some time with your heroes. Keep your heroes in front of you in order to remind you to follow their example. Depending on the type of heroes in your life, this might involve a phone call, going through some old photos, adding a new screensaver to your desktop, or moving Braveheart to the top of your Netflix queue.



3. Conduct a hero audit on your leadership. List the qualities and characteristics you most admire in your heroes and then give yourself a grade for each of these qualities in your own life. Do you demonstrate the boldness of Patton and the courage of Joan of Arc in your career? How Honest-Abe are you with your coworkers? How much Job-like patience are you demonstrating with your children?



4. Consider your own hero status. For someone, somewhere, at sometime you will be a hero. Or will you? Will your grandkids be inspired by the stories they hear about you? Live and lead well today and you leave a heroic gift for those who follow.

Chad Hall an author and church planter, is an executive coach and trainer with SAS Institute Inc. in Cary, North Carolina.

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