Pub. 6 2017 Issue 3

The CommunityBanker 12 F E A T U R E The World Needs Your HERO By Kevin Brown, Author and Motivational Speaker he world needs heroes. The world needs people who lead, love, and serve at a higher level. People who help us dream big dreams, achieve great things, and leave us better than they found us. People who exceed expectations and defy comparison. Those who make even the harshest critics stop in their tracks and admire the work. The world needs heroes. The brave ones who achieve the impossible in spite of the odds. Those who dare to act and bring forth that which was invisible to all but them. The strong ones who shoulder the load when life gets hard and gives hope to the hopeless and breathes life into those who can’t seem to catch their breath. The brilliant ones who create, innovate, and make life easier— those who draw upon their unique genius to bring forth fruit that might otherwise find its way one day to the graveyard. The world needs its heroes. The problem solvers, the healers, the teachers, and preachers among us. The defenders and protectors of freedom. Those who are willing to bring their best stuff to the present moment and pour it into the lives of others. To be their best when it matters the most. Indeed, the world needs heroes. But what does a hero look like? Why do we pull certain people and organizations out of the pile and anoint them as the special ones? The chosen few who oper- ate at a higher level than everyone else. And just when we think we’ve seen their best stuff – they find another gear and give us another jaw-dropping performance. I have been on a journey for nearly a decade to answer that one simple question. Chasing down the great ones in search of what the everyday hero looks like in business and in life. I have asked hundreds of people the question - what does a hero look like? And while the answers were expected, it led me to an unexpected place. People would talk about all the “categories” of heroes that most of us have heard before. They talked about world changers like Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King Jr., and Mother Teresa. T