The myth of the hero’s journey—and why it’s killing change in your organization

There is a powerful narrative arc called the Hero’s Journey that is employed in stories like Star Wars. A hero, like Luke Skywalker, receives a call to adventure. He or she has doubts at first, but meets a mentor, crosses the first threshold, undergoes an ordeal and, once successful, receives a reward and returns home changed for the better. Franz Kafka offers a very different and less happy narrative in his unfinished novel, The Castle. The hero, “K.” receives a call from the mysterious castle that looms above the town. No one can confirm his authority, role or even what he’s supposed to accomplish. He gets lost in the machine, and is left feeling confused and alienated. The ugly truth about the corporate world today is that while transformation is sold as the former, it usually ends up looking like the latter. It starts with a big launch and lots of fanfare. But after the initial excitement, things get bogged down and eventually stall altogether before being abandoned. It’s a sad story. It’s also completely avoidable. We can do things differently. The call to adventure Every transformational initiative starts with an idea to vanquish an enemy, whether that is a competitor, a source of inefficiency, an operational snafu, or a problem to be solved. It usually originates with someone high up in the organization, but sometimes it emerges lower down. At some point, someone with enough clout decides to back it. That’s when the summons comes. Imagine yourself as a high-potential employee, someone seen as up-and-coming. You are tapped to lead the initiative. You’re told that great things await. You’re given a large budget and your choice of people to help you run the program. You’re promised staunch executive support and whatever resources you need. This is seen as a mission-critical initiative. You are also given a mentor, much like Luke had Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars. In the corporate context, this usually means a change consultant or someone with a Prosci certificatio