People start businesses for many reasons. Most of the time it’s because they believe they have an idea, the experience or the talent to create something that will feed their financial needs.

In many cases, if they’ve chosen work that they truly enjoy, a sense of serving a higher purpose starts to evolve.

While purpose can be a loaded word for some, I think that in this day and age businesses that are built to do something that people can rally around, regardless of what the company actually makes and sells, are the ones that will naturally experience commitment and growth.

The tricky part for some is to get in touch with this idea of a higher purpose as applied to their business.

I would like to propose one question that might help you uncover and connect more thoroughly with this idea.

Who do want to see you as a hero?

To me, this is the money question because it causes you to think about what you do in much bigger terms. Sure the word hero might hold comic book or overly dramatic meanings when you think about applying it to yourself or your business, but it’s a crucial part of making the connection to purpose.

True leadership involves creating and telling stories that generate commitment and inspire action in others, but the first story is the one you tell yourself. Painting the picture of yourself in the role of the hero is your most important story.

This is how you connect what your business does with why your business does it.

Whether we realize it or not story telling is an essential facet of the human condition. We are told stories from the time we able to comprehend them until the time we leave this world. It’s how we create meaning, it’s how we construct and deconstruct the world we live in.

Stories move us to action and inspire us to think bigger.

Creating a noble sense of the hero is just part of the story of your own leadership, but it also contains the powerful pull of purpose and meaning. When you elevate your story it will elevate your business.

There is a classic book written in 1949 by Joseph Campbell called The Hero With a Thousand Faces. This work, a study of comparative mythology, is a must read for business owners and marketers as it reveals the entire road map to the power of stories throughout time.

The hero is the essential element in every story ever told and it’s an element that must be understood and written into your business as well.

So, who is the hero in your story?