In 1860, The Pony Express used a strategy that Steve Jobs, Sam Altman, and countless others have since stolen to create empires.
The "Call to Adventure":
There is a spark deep within us that wants to pursue something big and bold.
The Pony Express captured the imagination of the new West.
It invoked the first step of Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey - The Call to Adventure:
Over a century later, in 1983, Apple decided to bring on an outside CEO.
Steve Jobs was convinced that PepsiCo’s CEO John Sculley was the guy for the job. He closed him with one simple line.
“Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life or come with me and change the world?”
Sculley was hooked.
Even if the hire of Scully didn't work out for Jobs and Apple, the Call to Adventure strategy is an incredibly powerful tool that has worked for centuries.
Creating an effective Call to Adventure is counterintuitive because highlighting risk is essential to the strategy.
Just look closely at this copy for the pony express:
Similarly, when the explorer Earnest Shackleton needed men to accompany him to explore the artic, he was not subtle about the risk:
When Merriweather Lewis was recruited by Thomas Jefferson to find the unknown path to the Western Ocean, Lewis knew he wanted only 1 man to be his co-captain.
His letter to Clark is a master class in the Call to Adventure strategy.
Step 1: This opportunity is just for you
Step 2: Warn of Danger
"The plan is risky. Yet...you are the only person right for this challenge."
Destiny is invoked.
Step 3: Establish unknowns to be discovered.
To an explorer, discovering unknowns can be irresistible.
Step 4: Create FOMO.
The Adventure is happening with or without you.
Lewis finishes by telling Clark that if he won't join him, at least see him off at the beginning of the journey as a friend.
Then he's going off no matter what...
The power of the Call to Adventure strategy contributes to why Sam Altman observed that a "Hard Startup" was sometimes an easier path.
I've hired CEOs for my companies, recruited 100s of teammates, even inspired resistant kids to cooperate with the Call to Adventure strategy.
To recap:
1) Tailor the ask - it's not for everyone
2) Describe Danger
3) There is No Map
4) FOMO - This is happening with or without you
One more thing...how else do I know this works?
My wife adapted the letter of Lewis to Clark when she proposed to me.
It was an instant yes.
10 years later...it's been the best adventure of my life.
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