The Best Story Wins: How to Leverage Hollywood Storytelling in Business & Beyond

by Matthew Luhn

Some character types appear again and again in literature, plays, and movies. Here are the most common archetypes: The Herald: announces a need for change in the hero’s life and/or world. Sometimes a herald is a character but can also come in other forms like a letter. The Guardian: tests the hero before they embark on their journey. Also known as the threshold guardian. The Mentor: equips the hero with information about the world and physical or symbolic tools to defeat the villain and reach the hero’s goal. Allies: help the hero overcome obstacles, defeat the villain, and obtain the goal. The Trickster: injects humor into the story, challenging the status quo. The Shapeshifter: at first appears to be the hero’s ally, but later betrays the hero. The Shadow: is the hero’s main obstacle, creating external conflict and threat. Also known as the villain.

Business is about service. Good businesses exist to serve people well in the course of their lives, lifting them up to do their best and often boosting their livelihood. Instead of assuming that you are the hero, rescuing customers from a lesser existence, what if you cast your customer as the hero in your story? What if “saving the day” or “getting the treasure” wasn’t about you landing their business, but about them achieving what they want out of life? In sharing their own stories, companies forget that their products are not the real heroes. The customer is the hero. (One exception: when the story involves the company’s founders.)

Here are a set of questions that can help you create more fleshed out and authentic characters. Who Is the Character? Passion: At the beginning of the story, what does your character want more than anything else in the world? Fears: Often, underneath ambition and a strong positive emotional drive, a character harbors a fear of the opposite and negative result. What does your character fear in life? Positive traits: What is your character good at? Traits like confidence, being funny, loyal, or passionate. External traits: What set of attributes was your character born with or born into? Is the character naturally attractive? Charismatic? Wealthy? Flaws: What weaknesses does the character have? Can the character be arrogant? Timid? Obsessive? Dark side: What is the worst trait the character possesses, or the lowest low they are capable of? Would they lie? Steal? Kill to get what they want, or to avoid what they fear most in life? Traits admired in others: What traits does the character need in order to be redeemed?

Whether you work in entertainment or business or any other field, you want a workplace that inspires creativity and supports innovation—and teammates who understand, support, and motivate one another.

Just remember: if you empower your employees to take chances, they will fail. To be a truly creative company, you must take chances on ideas that might flop. This is part of the process. Learning from these failures could lead to even greater successes.

Innovation is creating something new that people will want even before they know what it is. It’s about thinking outside the box and being revolutionary. Like automotive pioneer Henry Ford, who reportedly said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” Innovation requires looking at the world from a different perspective, discovering unexpected obstacles, and solving them in unexpected ways.