WonderTour

When Jake Sully reaches Pandora in Avatar, he comes pre-loafed with a series of mental maps that he uses to navigate reality: his maps of reality.  Jake's maps include all kinds of useful tools that he's learned on earth from how to navigate the world without the use of his legs to how to respond to combat situations.  We all have our own maps of reality that we use to navigate and become reliant on, but we're all flawed, so what happens when those models prove ineffective in a new situation?  

When Jake is failing to adapt his earthly maps of reality to Pandora, Neytiri tells Jake, "It's hard to fill a cup that's already full".  Doesn't it fill like each of our cups gets too full to take on new information sometimes?  Too full to have empathy for someone who sees the world from a different perspective?  As leaders, we want to ensure our mental maps correspond to reality as much as possible, so how might we learn from Jake how to un-write and re-write those maps for the good of others?

Like Indiana Jones at the end of The Last Crusade, we all want to be the type of hero that can pass the trials when they inevitably come and save the day.  But Indy can't pass those tests without his father Henry's wisdom and we as magnanimous leaders we know that it's not about us, it's about others.  So how might we equip our team to pass the trials when it's hard to know when the trials will come or what trials we might face?  To navigate that sort of uncertainty and challenge requires both generalist and specialist skill sets working in unison.  To get to the Holy Grail we need to be able to integrate generalist skills like Indy's ability to adapt to change or fight his way out of a crowded room with specialist skills like Henry's knowledge of ancient civilizations and texts.  Only then can the team pass the trials and accomplish the mission, becoming a bit more magnanimous along the way.

It's time to begin a new series on WonderTour.  This time we are talking about Map-making and what better place to start than Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. 

Navigating a complicated world takes all kinds of skills but one of the most under-rated is Map-making.  While few maps are 100% accurate, many are useful.  There are a plethora of different types of maps that we can make and use depending on the type of situation we find ourselves in, but one thing is clear, without a map it's hard to progress the story.  In The Last Crusade, Indy only has literally half of a map and has to navigate to the fabled Holy Grail and doesn't this feel like the type of uncertainty we experience every single day.  Join us as we follow Indy and his father on an adventure and learn how we too can navigate without half a map. 

(Brian Nutwell steps in to fill Derrick's seat today)

It's hard enough to have Compassion on our peers, but how do we have Compassion on those above us and below us in the organization chart? All too often we hear blaming and conjecturing but rarely, for example, does an executive take action and have Compassion on the grassroots or does a citizen have compassion on their public servants.  To put it in Stranger Things terms, it takes a lot of energy to create a gate between the layers of an organization and most often, people aren't willing to put that much energy in.  By looking at how in Stranger Things S1E5 the children work together with their teacher, Mr. Clarke, we can start to see how we, as magnanimous leaders, can become the flea to the acrobat, able to collaborate between the layers and create gates so that others can traverse the dimensions of the organization as well.

We would all probably say that we want to be compassionate people.  But what do you do when you don't agree with the person you are trying to have compassion on? In Stranger Things S1E5, the Flea and the Acrobat, the children learn a lesson in compassion as they search for the Hawkins Lab.  El manipulates the compass to try to keep them safe but Lucas uncovers her secret and and calls her out causing a fight.  Having compassion on each other breaks through the personal conflicts and allows the team to eventually save Will and accomplish their mission. 

W/ Brian Nutwell

Energy management is one of the most challenging parts of being a functioning member of the world, much less a magnanimous leader.  When the weight of the world feels too heavy to bear it can seem like the only reasonable option is to, like Obi-Wan, close ourselves off from those who need us most.  Our energy stores get diminished and the return-on-investment of compassion makes it hard to justify.  That's where the upside-down magic of compassion flips the script on energy drain.  By giving up our time and energy to those who can offer us nothing in return we make way for growth in others and in ourselves.  

While our world might not seem as dark as a galaxy under the veil of the evil empire, like Obi-Wan Kenobi closing himself off from the force it can sometimes feel like the smart decisions is just to stay quiet and conserve energy instead of putting ourselves out there for the good of others.  While we may be sure of our mission to become better leaders for the good of others, protecting the long term good of those we care about can seem at odds with loving them in the short term.  How might we navigate the intersection between compassion and wisdom when the lines get blurry and hard to parse?

In the MCU oftentimes what we remember most about our favorite heroes is their overcoming moment or how they vanquished the bad guy in the final fight.  Yet, in our daily lives we rarely come across events of that magnitude. So how can we still be leaders like Thor in our daily struggles?

Thor Ragnarok turns the superhero genre on its head, providing a character-driven buddy cop story where the heroes learn more from getting beat up than they do from winning.  Odin's advice that Thor is the "god of thunder" not the "god of hammers" can only be realized once Hela crushes Thor's hammer and leaves him in a vulnerable state.  Thor must become less so that he may finally learn that being a leader is about having compassion for his people, not defending his image.

w/ Brian Nutwell

Choosing to act compassionately can feel like it drains our energy levels.  On top of that the world is full of people in need and our time and resources our finite so how could we be compassionate to everyone all the time?  

Like many of us, Thor has some complicated relationships to work through, namely his brother Loki.  Thor's love for his brother is clear but sometimes his actions feel like they're enabling Loki.  How might we, like Thor, find the balance of compassion and wisdom that empower those we care about to become the best they can be. 

With humans like with money it just seems like it can't grow fast enough.  We want our investments to compound sooner.  We want the hard work we are putting into our character to yield visible results.  We want to help others flourish.  But is there a ceiling on how fast money can grow?  In order for humans to develop sustainably, should we temper our expectations?  How can we apply what we know about leading humans to handling our finances?  Find out on this week's episode as Derrick and Drew join financial advisor Adam Koos.