“These are the times in which a genius would wish to live. It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed. The habits of a vigorous mind are formed in contending with difficulties. Great necessities call out great virtues. When a mind is raised, and animated by scenes that engage the heart, then those qualities which would otherwise lay dormant, wake into life and form the character of the hero and the statesman.”
― Abigail Adams
We are all living in very peculiar times, sometimes preoccupied by unprecedented events but constantly pushed forward by the dynamic desire of doing better. When it comes to our world, the planet we live in and the societies we are part of, we should all consider it our paramount responsibility to protect them, but also to set an example for the future generation of businesspeople.
In ITL Group we have asked ourselves how to practically meet this responsibility. For this reason, we would like to share with you the values of Ethics, Sustainability and Creativity (E.S.C.) that are the foundation of Atlas World, a project that is meant to create a community of leaders and businesspeople that apply the E.S.C. approach to their business lives.
While thinking on how to share this philosophy, we have encountered more than one challenge : how to make the message clear, how to inspire others to listen, and how to make them part of this journey with us.
One thing that helped us visualize the steps to follow was the idea of a hero, a business hero, someone that in spite of complex situations and unfavourable events was able to push through.
BUSINESS + HERO = ?
But what is a business hero? Let’s take a step back, starting from the original meaning of these two words.
The word hero is one that we could easily connect to a mythological or legendary figure, often of divine descent, endowed with great strength or ability, or, in an even more popular connotation, someone with superpowers. What strikes us is its original meaning, which comes from the Greek for “protector” or “defender”.
On the other hand, business, in 14th century Middle English meant “to be busy, to be occupied and engaged in an activity”, later, it developed into a meaning we are more accustomed to, which is “a person’s habitual occupation, profession or trade”.
Nonetheless, when we now talk about business, we can’t just consider it a lucrative activity: as modern business people we strive to bring services and products that better the life of people that consume them, we are the proud, hardworking protagonists of an ever-changing market.
THE JOURNEY OF THE (BUSINESS) HERO
There’s always a starting point: the status quo is considered faulty, unjust, or simply bad, and so heroes feel a call to start their journey, but of course, change is never easy, and heroes find many obstacles on their paths. Doing business is seldom easy, and many factors can affect the success of a company.
Heroes in the making might feel like all is lost, that they are not able to affect the present in a way that they feel better reflects their values. More often than not, it’s the guidance of a mentor that motivates them to persevere: maybe it’s the help of a colleague, or the inspirational quote of a famous individual that is able to shine a new light on their path.
At the end, heroes finish their journey: they defeat the evil king or the mean dragon (which can be metaphors for countless obstacles in the business world) , and they go back to their starting point, but now everything has changed. Heroes learn from their journey, from their obstacles and successes, and true heroes bring their experience back to their community to maintain the positive changes and inspire others to do the same.
Whether they want to bring a new solution to the market or revolutionize the way a service is provided to better meet the expectation of their clients, real-life business heroes are faced with the same exact journey.
Does the business hero exist? Can we merge the concept of business with the concept of hero? We asked Luigino Bottega, Head of ITL Marketing and author of IO-How to win at the game of life, “Who is a business hero?”.
To find out more about the inspiring figure of the business hero, You can read his interview here, the first of a series of great talks we are planning to share with you!
Our quest has started: join us on our journey to become business heroes!
Join the Atlas World community, read our manifesto and get in touch. Together we can change the world.
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