Tip 683: Stories, Heroes, and Models

From the Leadership Workshops: Stories, Heroes, and Models

Last week, we talked of how stories and heroes build cultures. They build pride and belonging. They present ideals to live for and work for and strive for. 

They guide us in our lives. They’re models for our behavior.  

Let’s continue the conversation. 

Consider George Bailey. 

The George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life. The Jimmy Stewart character. Shown every Christmas.

Young George has dreams. He tells his sweetheart Mary (Donna Reed)—

I’m gonna see the world. Italy, Greece, the Parthenon, the Colosseum. Then, I’m comin’ back here to go to college and see what they know. And then I’m gonna build things. I’m gonna build airfields, I’m gonna build skyscrapers a hundred stories high, I’m gonna build bridges a mile long . . . .

But life intervenes. 

His father passes away, his brother goes off to war, and there’s no one to run the Bailey Building and Loan. There’s no one to protect the neighbors from the greedy Mr. Potter. 

So he sacrifices his dreams to help others. 

How does he serve as a model? He does what he should do rather than what he wants to do. 

How does this apply to us? 

We want to go home, but a co-worker needs help. So we stay to help. 

We want to retire and see the world, but our daughter can’t take care of her children. So we take care of her children.

We’re putting our kids to bed when our fifth grader wails, “I forgot! I gotta make a poster about Peru!” So we drive to Walmart to get the poster board.   

We do these things because they’re the right thing to do, and because our models do the right thing. Our models both guide and support our right decisions.  

Who are your models? 

We love this stuff.