We humans love stories. We have for many centuries. We love to read, watch movies, and watch TV shows. Not only are they entertaining and provide a momentary escape from reality, but they oftentimes have lessons within them that we can learn from. Comic books are that way. Their stories are entertaining, but many of them also include social commentary as well as teaching lessons. Let’s take everyone’s favorite web-slinger, Spider-man, as an example. We all know the famous quote, “With great power comes great responsibility”, but he has many other lessons to teach us, as well, that can not only be used in our daily lives but also in Business. One such lesson is about being proactive.
1. Going to back to the quote, “With great power comes great responsibility”, this is something that all business leaders should keep in mind. Many leaders every day are faced with temptation and with the choice of doing what is best for the company or doing what is in their own self-interest. As one gains power in a company, they are given more responsibility and opportunities to make decisions. The decisions can be selfish and reactive (making decisions in response to something) or they can be generous and proactive (far-sighted and enterprising), so that the business can thrive and grow. Great leaders will know to use their power for the greater good and will be a Leader who takes charge and is motivated and proactive.
2. Spidey, after getting his powers, realized that he needed to learn how to control his new powers. Yet he still wanted to be himself. Good leaders are like that. They know there are skills they need to learn and practice to be an effective leader, but they are also aware of who they are as a person. They also know that people will want to follow a leader who is true to himself and comfortable with his gifts.
3. Despite the newspapers often portraying him as a villain, Spider-man continued to fight the good fight. He was motivated and driven to do what right, even if it was hard, because it was the right thing to do. Good business leaders must have the drive and motivation. If they do, they will be able to inspire others in the company to act the same. Great leaders desire to do more and do big things, just like Peter (in Homecoming) wanted to fight with the Avengers, but he also never stopped doing the small things and helping the little people, because he knew they mattered too.
4. Spidey had to face his dark side when he got the black suit and had the symbiotic relationship with Venom. He was enjoying the new power of the suit, but when he realized Venom’s sinister side of feeding on Negative Emotions and magnifying aggression, Peter took the initiative and broke the symbiosis. We all have our dark sides, powered by negative emotions. They can blind us to seeing things rationally. Good business leaders must learn to be proactive and keep negative emotions in check. Otherwise, you can make bad decisions that could cause you or your business to self-destruct.
5. No matter what happened, Spider-man never gave up. If he took a hit, he was never down for long. And he would find some way to win. Good leaders should never give up, either. When faced with adversity, they should be proactive and find a way through as well.
Spider-man has so many lessons that we can learn from him. You can find more by going here, here, here, here, and here.
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