I recently re-watched Spiderman 1 with my wife a few days ago, the one with Kristen Dunst and the guy from “Seabiscuit”. It was ok, I can’t seem to remember why it was such a big deal when it came out.
I am not sure if you are familiar with Spiderman, but in a nutshell, it’s a little nerd by the name of Peter Parker who gets bitten by a mutated spider. This encounter altered his DNA and gave him tremendous strength, agility and other attributes that we usually associate to spiders. In order to hide his identity he then takes on the persona of Spiderman, et Voila!!
While watching the movie, it got me thinking about another super hero that our society is much more familiar with, Superman. Superman is an alien (YES just like E.T.), born with superhuman strength, the ability to fly and other powers, he takes on the persona of Clark Kent with “human” characteristics.
Both have superhuman abilities and both have alter-egos. However the similarities go no further. In fact other than both of our super heroes feeling quite comfortable in their masculinity to prance around in a skin tight outfit in public, their way of life couldn’t be more different. Allow me to explore.
Superman was born with powers. He has never known a life outside of the one he currently lives. His powers, from a young age have allowed him to do extraordinary feats. He has known from a toddler that he was special; actually more specifically that he literally could do ANYTHING on his own, simply by relying on his “natural” abilities. He took on the persona of Clark Kent in order to hide Superman.
Peter Parker, by contrast, has lived a hard live. He lost his parents at a young age and had to live with his Aunt and Uncle. Though he lived under a loving roof, his small frame and nerdy look did not make him the most popular guy in school. Rather, he invested his time in study and science, basically the regular life of what we would commonly refer to as a nerd. Until a freak encounter with the spider that would change his life, Peter Parker did not feel special but instead rejected by his peers. Until the encounter, Peter Parker didn’t truly believe he could do ANYTHING by just relying on his own human abilities. When the spider gave him extraordinary powers Peter was given a chance to make a difference with all his powers AND flaws. He took on the persona of Spiderman to hide Peter Parker.
Here is the lesson. If you are in a leadership position and if you are anything like me; too often we have tried to take on the persona of Clark Kent believing we needed to be Superman. Meaning, we wanted to show our human side to our staff, team, and congregation but internally we wanted to be able to do ANYTHING on our own and simply rely on our natural abilities; we needed to be Superman, no flaws, no problems big enough to stop our own ego. We couldn’t be more wrong.
We are in fact just Spider men and women. We were never born with the powers to do everything, our gifts were not multi-faceted. By random encounters or pre-destined encounters we have honed our skills and abilities to become the person we are today. We are in fact, all Peter Parker, given a chance to make a difference with ALL our FLAWS and skills. But though we have amassed all that knowledge and skills we are still first and foremost human.
I believe that by recognizing that important facet of our own humanity, those we serve and lead, will embrace that very nature and find ways to compliment our shortcomings. If we choose to hide and lead like Superman and do things on our own, chances are people won’t think they can help us, because we act like Superman and therefore, probably wouldn’t help us in our time of need.
On the other hand leading as Spiderman is to accept that we were flawed FIRST and acquired the rest because of events surrounding our life rather than just a natural ability. Because we accept that frailty, I believe those who “follow” us, will be much more open to help.
Something else I would like to share. The one-man show leader is no more; the era of team leadership is in its full swing. So if you think you can do it all by yourself, just like Superman, it’s time for you to lay with the dinosaurs and leave the spiders to weave their threads.
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