The villain is a crucial element to every story. The hero, in many cases, is measured by the strength of their nemesis. There is no light without darkness. There is no good without evil. Push is forever entangled with pull. Villains provide the counter balance to heroes. Without their devious acts and terror, how does the hero prove to be heroic? No matter the case, literature, or pop culture, the villain is always equally important as the hero.
People relate to a villain as easily, if not easier, than the hero. The unlikely hero has a more difficult time visualizing triumph because they don’t always see themselves as heroic. However, we all know darkness, tough times, or the urge to throw up your hands in frustration and take the easy way. The “devil may care” attitude of a villain living in flagrant opposition to society and doing whatever they want has an irresistible appeal.
The villainous character almost enlists people to their cause until they do something so seriously heinous that the audience fully backs the hero in victory. It’s a storytelling trope for a reason, but also a mark in history. Many of history's greatest villains didn't start out that way. In some cases, they couldn’t defeat their own inner villains so they relented, embracing the deepest darkest parts of themselves. And yet, we still know their names.
Benedict Arnold is a synonym for traitor. He almost died during the Revolutionary War.If he had died, he would’ve been a hero and martyr for the cause, but instead he survived, switched sides, and his name lives on as a synonym for traitor and villain. How quickly it can change.
Just like the hero’s journey, the marketing journey requires a relatable villain for the unlikely hero to transform into the fully realized hero. External villains are obvious. Of course, they have sway and a little juice to move the needle for the hero, but in reality they’re always the weakest opposition.
Sadly, every kid probably remembers a bully from their childhood. At that moment, the bully seems like the biggest, strongest villain and there’s no clear path to victory. The truth is the bully isn’t really the villain, but an emissary, or pawn, of the real villain. Yes, you had to deal with them at school, soccer practice, summer camp or church, but that was a fraction of your time. Their torment was heightened by your fear. Without them knowing, the bullies became a henchman for the cabal of villains within.
The Cabal of Villains
“Every hero is the villain of his own story.” –Holly Black
There’s a distinct difference between an obstacle and a villain. Obstacles are impediments to progress, but villains are active agents against change. This is an important distinction because obstacles can be easily side stepped or overcome, like a puddle of dirty water when walking across the street. Villains cannot be sidestepped or averted with a simple action. A villain utilizes any and all means to ensure the hero never achieves victory.
The true power of the villain is the belief that their actions are justified. Villains don’t see themselves as villains, but heroes. From an outsider’s perspective, this seems completely crazy, but give it some thought. Politics is the perfect example. Who is the hero? Who is the villain? If you ask members of either party, they claim to be heroes while pointing at their opponents as clear villains. Is that true?
Absolutely not! It’s an illusion of perspective, but highlights a critical trait of villains. The villain will always have some nugget of logic or reasoning to justify their actions. They don’t see themselves as a villain and perhaps they aren’t regardless of the actions pointing to the contrary. However, their perspective aligns, there are traits and choices that align them on the opposite side of the cosmic coin from the hero.
Gaius Julius Caesar, one of ancient Rome’s most infamous emperors, was a hero or villain? The simple answer is: it’s complicated.
Depending on what part of Caesar’s life you look at, he is both. He was the leader that transitioned the Roman Republic into an empire. He expanded the Roman Army, standardized their training, created the Julian calendar (which we still utilize), and challenged the Roman Senate. However along his way, he became the first dictator of Rome which limited the power of democracy while granting his executive branch even more. Caesar is a grandiose example of the hero and villain that resides in both of us.
Where does the hidden villainous passenger within each of us reside? They are synthesized from a very potent cocktail of three elements which simultaneously creates the cabal of villains and the conditions for the Advisor to realize the hero within someone. These crucial elements are ego, motive, and desire.
The legendary musician John Lennon said, “Part of me suspects that I'm a loser, and the other part of me thinks I'm God Almighty.” This is the power and danger of ego. As we explore the unholy trinity of inner villains, the ego is tied to all of them. Ego is the sense of feast or famine. Outside of walking a very spiritually enlightened path where the ego dissolves, which can’t be done within the required span of marketing, its omnipresence in life can metaphorically give life or death. Every person has ego and, in many cases, dictates their sense of self. However, ego can be the gasoline that supercharges the fire of villainy. When you look across history, ego plays a factor in the villain’s rise and fall. Hitler, Stalin, or any cult leader, their ego leads to their rise to power and the heinous acts that follow, but also their demise when it remains unchecked.
Motive, while not as powerful as ego, is the inertia of action. Motive, by definition, is “a reason for doing something, especially one that is hidden or not obvious.” When addressing the inner workings of a hero, what’s their motivation for change? What motive is keeping them from this realization? How has this hidden reason fueled the ego to empower an inner villain? These are all valid questions that need to be asked when identifying the true villain(s) of the story.
The motive is important because there are (usually) deep seeded feelings attached to it. This energetic dance of motive and ego fuels action or inaction, usually the latter, because motive feels big and ego, based on its present state, could easily discourage any action toward impactful, positive change.
Shannon Sullivan, author of Living Across and Through Skins, wrote, “To pursue a particular desire through the transformation of experience is to pursue a particular self.” Desire is tricky because there’s the potential for so many desires, flights of fancy, to go unfulfilled that people become conditioned to desire being negative. When you have a lot of desires that routinely never get past the daydream or “dear diary” stage, desire itself feels villainous.
Humans are hard-wired to to the path of least resistance. These three cohorts make that path more encouraging. A study conducted by the University College of London found “the amount of effort required to do something influences what we think we see, suggesting we're biased towards perceiving anything challenging to be less appealing.” This merely enforces the strength of the villains and gives a glimpse into why the path of heroic transformation is arduous.
These three foundational elements create the conditions for the inner cabal of villains that your unlikely hero lives with.
Villain #1: The Inner Nemesis
“You yourself will always be the worst enemy you can encounter; you yourself lie in wait for yourself in caves and forests.” –Friedrich Nietzsche
German philosopher Friedrich Nietzche knew about the inner nemesis. He knew about the human condition that plagues us throughout our existence, never fully defeated, merely attenuating between weak and strong. The Inner Nemesis is the conductor of self doubt and disbelief. The cartoonish devil on your shoulder is always portrayed like they’re guiding you to an immoral or unethical choice, but really they whisper to your soul that you’re useless, incapable, and inadequate.
This sounds incredibly harsh, but it’s sadly true. It’s no secret that an alarming amount of people feel starved of kindness and compassion. A Harvard report on the epidemic of loneliness found that 36% of all Americans—including 61% of young adults and 51% of mothers with young children—feel “serious loneliness.” This loneliness feeds the inner nemesis because there aren’t counteracting forces to combat the villain’s whispers.
Their inner nemesis has 24/7 access to their ear. They have a higher chance of success because they’re always with them. After a while, whether they initially believed them or not, the inner nemesis wears them down. Without community, friends or loved ones, it’s easy to see how the villainous narrative begins to form the core of their reality. The idea of being the hero in your own story feels more far fetched and unlikely than ever.
Humans are a social species, but lately the societal fabric feels thread bare. When that happens, the inner nemesis goes unchecked which can feel like a runaway train to unhappiness and depression. The inner nemesis feeds the fire of self doubt and inadequacy resulting in a faulty self belief that change, success, and happiness aren’t for them. Always pushing the most sensitive button like they aren’t smart, creative, talented, tough, and so on. This forms a reality that feels impossible to change.
Frankly, this villain will always have a role in the story. They might be the final boss or the antagonistic, rude henchman to another villain. However you sculpt the villain for your marketing story, this villain’s fingerprints and soft, dastardly whispers will be ever present and will need to be considered every step of the way.
Villain #2: The Conflicted Core
“If you have learned how to disagree without being disagreeable, then you have discovered the secret of getting along--whether it be business, family relations, or life itself." –Bernard Meltzer
There is no bigger battle than for one’s soul. Okay, that’s a bit dramatic for marketing, but it’s not inaccurate. Every person is an amalgamation of information, feelings, thoughts, lived experiences, and influence streams (family, friends, partner, etc). As we grow and evolve, our core is molded. This is the natural process of living.
Along that journey, there is a very strong possibility that small bits of information or opinions created a point of view that might not be entirely accurate. The ego is great at digging in and fighting against anything it views as a challenge and has an intimate relationship with a person’s assumptions.
While this isn’t new, the world has clearly shifted their opinion of what constitutes a “fact.” Fake news and disinformation appear to be at an all time high or our awareness is attuned to the possibilities. No matter what your opinion is on any of those, you need to consider this villain the crazed conspiracy theorist that gets defensive, shuts down, and refuses to engage in any meaningful dialogue.
This villain is deeply entrenched in gut feelings and personal experiences which we all know to be unreliable, but also how our “reality” is formed. While they may have ingested information along the way, humans definitely lean towards a bias that supports our experiences. This is the power of this villain. The ego doesn’t want to be defeated and the person is skeptical of any outside motive.
A prime example was the COVID pandemic. People went from whatever their day job was to disease experts overnight. While they have personal autonomy, there was a lot of skepticism about the state of the world even when there was clear evidence, like the virus exists. While everyone wanted to do what was best for them and their family, there was a very polarized nature to any form of debate when conflicting views met. This was a global event that had implications for every human so consider this villain’s strength when the stakes are lower.
This is the villain you will confront when trying to provide new information. Even though you’re an expert in your industry, the way you confront their assumptions matters because this villain reinforced by the ego questioning your motives is a stalwart barrier to progress.
Villain #3: The Unknown
“The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” –H.P. Lovecraft
The void, death, the dark, the boogieman, the monster under the bed, the deep blue sea, these are all fears. The common trait among them is the unknown. When you’re a kid and the lights go out, you don’t know what’s under the bed or in the closet even though only minutes before you could see that you were safe.
When you swim in the open ocean, regardless of the safety statistics, there’s a fear of the unknown because it’s just deep blue to blackness below. No one knows what happens when we die, but plenty of people speculate so the unknown isn’t as terrifying. There’s a whole lot that we don’t know, to include how the universe began, when super volcanoes could erupt or what tomorrow brings.
This is the villain forged from safety and doubt, the antithesis of the “grass is greener on the other side of the fence.” This soft voice convinces its person that it could always be worse or why risk what you already have for no guarantees of better? Even if the person is unhappy, this villain prefers the known quantity.
We know there’s always risk when choosing to make a change, but is the risk worth it? When you think about perspective and mindset, this villain leans into negativity and writes an imaginary narrative of a catastrophic future which has no guarantee of coming to fruition. Their influence is strong and a lot of people allow the fear of the unknown to dictate a present they can actively participate in.
The unknown triggers anxiety from uncertainty even if there is a potential favorable outcome. This anxiety triggers the release of cortisol, epinephrine, and adrenaline which are the polar opposite of dopamine (the good stuff). When those chemicals grip a person, it leads to fight or flight which isn’t helpful for you because the person either digs their heels in or runs away. In either case, you lose.
Every decision, action, and choice has traces of the unknown. There’s a good possibility the unlikely hero has prior experiences where they were positive going into the experience, but had a bad outcome. This is a part of life, but also a strong case for this villain’s continued presence in the human psyche. It only takes a few poor results for this villain to persuade the unlikely hero that the future is scary, negative, and inevitable.
How to Sculpt a Villain
Your marketing story needs a villain. While I outlined three extremely powerful inner villains, sculpting the villain needs to be equal parts creativity and science. Like the most beautiful and breathtaking sculptures in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The Louvre or The Coliseum, you need to craft your villain with an artistic vision and patience.
Unlike the dinosaur advertising agencies of Madison Avenue, you don’t need to have a huge budget, multiple focus groups or hire outside consultants. The age of information and technological advancements provides you with more tools and data than they ever had. Your sculpting tools are better than ever with the implementation of artificial intelligence. However, tools change. They get updated or get replaced by a newer, more precise tool. While a sculptor uses tools, the tools don’t make them a master.
The masters were just that because they could look at a gigantic block of marble and see the sculpture within. Their technique was to chisel away big chunks and then slowly refine with each pass until that hard edge has the softness and supple flow of the most beautiful of human curves. The vision came from their innate intuition which guided whatever tool was in their hand. The villain you sculpt requires a version of this intuition.
This “intuition” you cultivate will guide you to the creation of a villain that is the perfect heel to your hero.
Extreme Listening
“The art of conversation lies in listening.” –Malcolm Forbes
Deeyah Khan is a Norwegian documentary film director and human rights activist that has spent time with Islamic jihadists and white supremacists to understand who they are at their core. Did I mention she’s a Muslim woman? Those groups she spent time with were not friendly, to put it mildly. She is potentially the best listener on the planet.
In her documentary, White Right: Meeting the Enemy, she spent time with white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, during the rally and unfortunate violence. While she listened to the vitriol and the hatred of the neo-nazis, she did so without allowing her own views (which were polar opposite) from listening to the human underneath. The level of patience and empathy required to listen to the human, not the abhorrent views and opinions, is heroic in nature. She was able to suspend her biases, and not engage in heated debate, to understand why they chose their cause.
After all her time spent, she realized they didn’t see themselves as villains and their cause was more about people accepting them and providing what society couldn’t: understanding, belonging, friendship, and even family.
In your process to sculpt the proper villain for your marketing story, your listening skills need this level of commitment. Listening is the foundational skill required for research so you can see the villain hiding in your block of marble.
As you dig into the internet for crowd sourced information and scour social media, you need to listen without bias or letting your expertise get in the way. As the expert the unlikely hero turns to, you have to stow your knowledge and listen with the ears of a child, like you’re hearing everything for the first time.
This requires the suspension of ego. This is tougher than it sounds because the information you gather could seem uninformed or inaccurate, but that doesn’t mean it’s not useful. Just as ego is a core component in the villain’s DNA, you need to consider the possible implications of your own ego.
This tool requires a great deal of empathy and the beginner’s mindset. Remember, you once were exactly where they are so tap into that feeling. If you’re listening to them, or reading content, and something gives you a physical reaction you feel in your body, explore what was said. Trust your gut instinct and use the feeling to steer the conversation (or your follow-on searchers).
There’s the additional challenge that a significant amount of your source material could be written text in the form of reviews, online forum postings, blogs, social media, etc. This is a different challenge because when most of us read, it’s our voice in our head. When another person posts or writes something that doesn’t feel right to us, whether it’s a difference of opinion or you have more information, it’s easy to dismiss what they’ve said.
Before you dig into the research phase, it’s important to identify any potential biases that could skew your research. We see this often in new headlines where the agency takes a tiny bit of information to fit their narrative. For instance when they present “facts,” like a poll, without including the study information, such as only 2,000 people were surveyed, where they came from or the period of time it represents.
Beyond your own biases, Daniel J. Levitin wrote in A Field Guide to Lies,
“The best defense against sly prevaricators, the most reliable one, is for every one of us to learn how to become critical thinkers. We are a social species, and we tend to believe what others tell us. And our brains are great storytelling and confabulation machines: Given an outlandish premise, we can usually generate fanciful explanations for how it might be so.”
While in the listening phase, you need to critically think through the data presented. There will be outlandish claims or stories that can’t possibly be factual, but it’s reality to that person. If there are multiple people believing something, perhaps, that’s an approach no one else considered because their biases told them to discard the data.
You’re not conducting research to judge how other people think or live. Your research is to better understand your audience of unlikely heroes because, no matter how fanciful or outlandish a person’s view, they are a potential customer. Your acknowledgement of their perspective, no matter how contrary to your own, could be the catalyst for them supporting you because you listened when no one else would.
Deeyah Khan was able to change one person’s life by doing so. A high ranking white nationalist left the white supremacist movement because she listened to him and saw the person underneath. This is an exercise in patience and empathy, but a vital tool in unlocking the strongest villain for your heroes which, until you, no one else could see.
Every story, even a marketing story needs a villain to battle and overcome for the hero to realize their own future. The foundation of the villain is the inner villains every person battles at some point in their life. From that clay, with your artistic vision and extreme listening, you can sculpt the villain that will resonate most with the unlikely heroes you encounter.
The Mystical and Magical Power of Words
People with high-level positions, this message is for you: