How Symbols & Rituals Align Your Team
Have you ever wondered why Darth Vader and Johnny Cash preferred to wear black while wedding brides and Luke Skywalker are often adorned in white?
Why do we connect the color pink to that which is feminine? When did yellow roses become a non-verbal way to communicate friendship? Why do we associate the lion with courage, the dove with peace and how in the heck did chocolate become sinfully associated with gratification and decadence?
CAUTION: You are about to cross an intellectual Moat of Understanding and traverse a weathered, stony bridge before facing a heavy wooden door guarding the entrance to a dark, forbidding, castle. Standing atop a ragged mountain, the castle and the secrets it contains has existed for centuries. Slowly open that door and you may cross paths with a green-eyed black cat before unlocking some of the mystery that shrouds the practical use of symbols and rituals and how you can apply them to your everyday, ultra-modern life.
“It has always been the prime function of mythology and rite to supply the symbols that carry the human spirit forward, in counteraction to those that tend to tie it back” JOSEPH CAMPBELL.
Growing up in White Plains, NY, Joe was an Irish Catholic kid who became obsessed with mythology during childhood trips to Buffalo Bill’s Wild West exhibition. Fascinated by Native American artifacts, Joe began noticing parallels with Christian culture and traditions, such as the Virgin Birth of Jesus. Later in his academic life, Joe wrote a book TIME magazine named as one of the 100 most influential books of all time. Film maker George Lucas often credits Joe and his work for inspiring the multi-gazallion dollar franchise known as Star Wars.
Like music, symbolic language is universal, extending beyond limitations of the spoken and written word used by mere mortals. What if the same guiding principles direct supernatural forces of symbols and rituals could help your business and brand gain traction and establish solid footing in the material world of sights, sounds and online distractions.
Set your sword aside, join other curious knights at digital round tables and discover How Symbols & Rituals Align Your Team on Leaders & Legends.
“Behold! The Sword of Power! Excalibur! Forged when the world was young, and bird and beast and flower were one with man, and death was but a dream!” - MERLIN THE MAGICIAN
p.s… the seed of the idea for this post was planted when David Galownia and his merry band of software dare devils unveiled their new mascot. See for yourself how “Slingy” managed to arrive safely in Louisville, KY and join other coding crime-fighters with Slingshot Software.
Any leader from any industry or category can apply this unorthodox yet effective approach, especially in business-to-business environments. Raptor Mining CEO Craig Harder has drilled deep into the use of symbols and rituals to create a shared spirit of initiative and unity among his 300-plus employees spread across distant locations. Craig has a reptilian alter ego, donning a full-colored dinosaur mask for company videos, Facebook Live streams, or Instagram posts. Known as the Raptor CMO, this pre-historic character earned Craig the rock star treatment on a visit to a CAT factory in Johannesburg, South Africa. From more than 15,000 miles away, Craig’s hosts could not believe that the CEO of a company would go to such lengths to stand out. It was at that moment that Craig grasped the widespread appeal and clout of the Raptor brand and its profound impact. As this dinosaur-mask-wearing father of two puts it, “Our GSD culture is the driving force of Raptor Mining. GSD stands for goal-setting discussions and getting sh*t done. It helps to have symbols that express that.”
p.p.s… The concept of the hero's journey – accompanied by multiple symbols and rituals - was introduced with Joseph Campbell’s classic, The Hero With A Thousand Faces. Published in 1949, the book helped storytellers make intellectual sense of certain intuitive patterns they knew to be true. By the 1980s, Campbell became a popular figure on the lecture circuit. A six-part interview on public television with American journalist Bill Moyers made him a household name, but sadly, Campbell passed on before the first broadcast in 1988.
20-MINUTE DISCOVERY SESSION.
Throughout the course of the pandemic, we have made every effort to serve small to medium-size business owners with an open heart and no strings attached. That's why we allot a certain amount of time each month for readers like you to schedule a 20-Minute Discovery Session via ZOOM. If you are facing a business or branding challenge that you are not quite sure how to handle and need to bounce ideas and gain clarity, we’re only a click away.
YOUR BRAND. ON TRACK.
If now is the opportune time to differentiate, re-position and realign your organization, why not explore a metaphorical road trip called THE BRANDING HIGHWAY. Our in-person and virtual Executive Bootcamps serve as both journey and destination to help your brand emerge as an undeniable, undisputed, "Category of One". Impossible to describe, this unpredictable journey is best understood when you take a quick peek at this Video Overview:
“The most important victory is the one which has to arrive” ENZO FERRARI
PLANNING A SPEAKING EVENT?
The wheels of business turn faster each quarter and your company or industry association may be anxious to stay ahead of the lighting-fast relevance curve. In that respect, we are scheduling many in-person and virtual programs for 2021 with customized content designed to inspire conference attendees to acquire a “STADIUM-SIZED PERSPECTIVE”.
For more information on scheduling an In-Person or Virtual Speaking Program, send us a note here: bookings@gairmaxwell.com
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““What other people may find in poetry or art museums, I find in the flight of a good drive" ARNOLD PALMER