Finding Your Hero Within to Create a Superhero Culture

I want to share with you an amazing story of redemption. Of real heroes. And of becoming a hero yourself. Not to save the world, but to serve the world. It’s the right way to be a leader and create a healthy culture in your MSP. It’s also a model for how your team members can contribute in the same way for the same cause.

Why is that necessary? Because, according to Kevin Brown, creating a culture is everyone’s responsibility – each employee, leader, and owner. Brown is a branding and culture expert and the author of “Unleashing Your Hero”, which he claims is a “book about recognizing the heroes around us, but also discovering the one within us.” I heard him tell his triumphant tale during Part 1 of a two-part episode of “Sunny’s Silver Linings”.

Kevin went through a very dark period in his life between the ages of 13 to 16. He quit school in the 9^th grade and ran away from home. He never went to college and lived out of his car. He slept in hospital waiting rooms and would wash up in public restrooms. He was angry, depressed, and scared. Yes, he even considered suicide. He prayed that he would die. Fortunately, that prayer went unanswered.

Or did it?

That Kevin Brown did die when a hero entered his life. At 19 years of age, Kevin knew that if he was going to survive, he needed to change. But he had no college degree and no skills. So he answered a newspaper advertisement for a sales job. He called and a “crusty old sales guy from south Texas” answered. Kevin poured out his whole sad life story to the stranger. Definitely not your typical job interview, huh?

Here’s what the stranger said: “If you’re willing to work hard, if you’re willing to follow a system, if you’re willing to do what I ask you to do, I can take you someplace that you’ve never, ever dreamed of and I can teach you a skill that can serve you for the rest of your life.”

He took Kevin under his wing and taught him how to be a salesperson, how to be a leader, how to be a good human being. He gave him books to read. He taught Kevin how to sell. How to believe in himself. He worked on Kevin a little bit every day.

“He took the storyline that life had given to a 13-year-old kid and he started to rewrite it,” Kevin said. “So many people get up every single day of their life and they take the storyline that life gives them, and they accept it as their own truth. They take it and believe that it’s true for them. But they forget that they have the pen in their hand. And this old man showed me that I had the pen in my hand and helped me craft a new vision for my life.”

Wow. This old guy didn’t give Kevin a $10 dollar bill for a sandwich and send him on his way. He gave Kevin a new life. That’s not a hero in my mind – that’s a superhero!

So why did this old man do this for a struggling street kid? Because someone had done it for him. Someone had stepped up and served as his hero at one time in his life.

This isn’t just what heroes do; it’s what leaders do. As Kevin said, you must bring that extraordinary person within you to work, to your family, to your community, and to everybody around you.

“Nobody is here to be ordinary or to make an ordinary contribution,” he said. “I think it’s just the opposite. I believe that everybody was created with extraordinary talents, gifts, and abilities, and we were put here to use them in the service of others. Heroes are extraordinary people who choose not to be ordinary. Ordinary is a choice, it’s a learned behavior.”

Kevin went on to an incredibly successful corporate career of 32 years in franchising. He was surrounded by some really great people who mentored him, shepherded him. He learned what makes a high performing team different from everyone else.

So, how does this pertain to culture, you ask? Kevin said something that I totally agree with: Leaders have a choice about the workplace environment that they want to create. Culture is something that attracts great people, great leaders, and great clients.

“When you have a healthy and vibrant culture, it attracts everything that you want. Great performers want to be around other great performers,” Kevin said. “So when we allow less than excellence into our organization, our top performers begin to question you as a leader. They wonder, ‘Why would you let weeds grow in this garden?’”

When we think about a culture of heroes, your people shouldn’t come to work to save the day but to serve the day. And they must show up with that serving mindset, not only to their customers and clients, but to each other. Kevin said that each of your employees should be able to look around the organization and know that their colleagues have their back and make it a point to have their colleagues’ backs as well.

It’s about having a mindset of solving problems, making life better, making it easier for your customers to do their work, removing the obstacles that keep people from being their best.

“The greatest gift we can give somebody is our full attention and our time,” Kevin said.

Just like that crusty old sales guy from south Texas did. And look how it transformed a lost boy like Kevin.

Click here to listen to the full podcast and get inspired to use that pen in your hand to help write the life your team members want in your workplace and in their lives.