Joseph Campbell was a noted author, scholar, and mythologist.
He taught comparative mythology and religion at Sarah Lawrence College in NY.
What made Joseph unique was his ability to identify patterns and connections.
And unlike most mythologists, he was more interested in studying the similarity of stories than their differences.
His curiosity led him to recognize common patterns in the cultures that he studied. He was amazed to find that stories across all cultures followed a strikingly similar structure.
He coined the term “monomyth,” or the hero’s journey to describe a universal story structure in which the main character moves through a sequence of twelve stages.
In short, the hero embarks on an adventure, experiences a crisis, wins a victory, and then returns transformed (departure, initiation, return).
You will no doubt be familiar with this narrative—from the books you’ve read and movies you’ve watched (i.e. The Matrix, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Harry Potter, The Lion King.) to the stories you’ve shared with friends and family.
Despite the universal appeal of storytelling, few businesses utilize the power of the hero’s journey in their case studies.
And, who is the hero?
Your customer.
Your customer says, “Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi, you’re my only hope!”
What happens next?