How To Humanize Your Heroes (or, Superman poops too!)

Posted May 7, 2009
18 Comments
chris brogan julian smith photo by chris garrett How To Humanize Your Heroes (or, Superman poops too!)

Photo credit - Chris Garrett

“Chris Brogan! Chris Brogan! Holy macaroni, it’s Chris Brogan!”

For ten minutes or so, that’s what went on inside my head on day one of the Successful and Outstanding Bloggers Conference (SOBCon) in Chicago last weekend. I put the poor guy high up on a pedestal. And guess where that left me?

Who is Chris Brogan?

For those of you who don’t know who Chris Brogan is, he writes one of the most read blogs on social media, and gets paid some pretty good cake to advise companies on new media strategies.

He’s got almost 70,000 followers on Twitter, is number 68 in the Technorati Top 100, and gets 300,000 unique visitors to his blog each month.

But he still goes poopie.

And he feels stupid and shy and blue sometimes. And probably has an embarrassing personal hygiene habit that he saves for long drives alone. Just like we all do.

So when I caught myself about to kneel on the Chris Brogan altar, I stopped and asked myself this:

“Why am I making him up to be better than me?”

space How To Humanize Your Heroes (or, Superman poops too!)

And I had no reasonable answer.

When we deify someone, we hold them to be perfect. They’ve “arrived”. They become one massive illusion that never poops! I can’t hold myself up to that. And neither can you.

Why do we create infallible heroes out of fallible humans?

Maybe we do it because it makes it easier to fail – and be content with that failure. If my life isn’t the life I’ve dreamed of, it’s because I’m only human – not super-human. And I can get support for this reasoning from the four corners of our blame culture.

We tightly hold onto the ropes of our friends beautiful hot-air balloon, while they hold ours down in return. And no one gets off the ground!

A good friend will believe in you, even when you don’t.

My good friend, @RiaSharon once said to me: “Be your future self”.

Aren’t we all just the sum of our beliefs about who we are? Isn’t Chris? Isn’t Superman?

me nancy loo and chris brogan How To Humanize Your Heroes (or, Superman poops too!)

With Nancy Loo and Chris Brogan - photo by Duong Sheahan

What future self are you being?

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  • Inspiring post, John.
    "We tightly hold onto the ropes of our friends beautiful hot-air balloon, while they hold ours down in return."
    So true. And most of the time we don't realize we're doing it.

    <abbr>Pamela Weir’s last blog post..We Should Always Market Like There’s a Recession</abbr>
  • John,

    Great post. This is something I think a lot of us go through while on our personal journeys. We look up to the stars and wonder when and how we will ever get there.... but if all we do is look and talk then our beautiful balloon will always be stuck in the trees. Instead, I like to take the phrase @kevinnations uses... "Imperfect Action". Chris Brogan is a smart guy, don't get me wrong, and someone I look up to greatly for guidance and advice, however, the difference between him and the rest of us is that he grabbed his balls and took massive action every day.

    He once told me that he stayed up until 3:00am every morning for 4 years to get to where he is!!!! He didn't just pop up out of no where and ascend to the heavens.... No! He worked his butt off every day and didn't let others hold onto his string. There is no magic about achieving the things you want to, and for being your own star.... the only magic you need is picking up some of the earth's good soil, rubbing it deep into your hands, and take the approach that you will do things that others are unwilling to do.

    Great stuff John!

    <abbr>Lewis Howes’s last blog post..The Social Media Profit Machine (Columbus Workshop)</abbr>
  • @Pamela - There are good friend and great friends. Great friends will get in your face with a mirror that reflects how awesome you can be. Good friends will validate your excuses for not making it happen.

    @Lewis - Massive action is very important! I'll add that there are two kinds of action: Action that is "busy", and action that gets results. The difference between the two is having a written plan. I bet it would have been very hard for Chris to stay up until 3:00AM without a long-term written plan.
  • John,

    Very true.... you must have a 1. Goal, and 2. Plan of action. This is an entirely different blog article I could have talked about so I wanted to make sure my comments didn't take up your entire post :)

    You have to know what you want for sure... and take actionable steps every day in achieving that goal... thanks for throwing that in there.

    Lewis
  • Ria
    That's what Chris said, right? "When meeting the Internet “famous,” or anyone you think might be “someone,” please realize that people are just people, and that you matter."

    John, we're having a circular conversation! I recently wrote an article about Bad Mother, Ayelet Waldman's new book in which I maintain that "good mother" is fiction and so because we can't live up to that impossible standard "the scheidenfreude of watching the really bad train wrecks like the Britneys and the Andrea Yateses make us feel just a little better!"

    Whether we are building other people up to impossible standards or holding ourselves to them, the self-abnegation is the same. And it really is a denial of our own humanness.

    Yes, we are the sum of our beliefs about ourselves and we, as a species, love to project those perceptions of ourselves onto other people.
  • @RiaSharon - Chris Garrett has taught me many great things - even the "J" thing!
  • And for the record, I'm Batman. : )

    <abbr>Chris Brogan...’s last blog post..Running Your Business at Lightspeed with Socialcast</abbr>
  • What a great post, John. The problem with putting someone on a high pedestal, is that you can't talk to him or her. We can get wonderful words of wisdom, and learn about the hard work they've put into their success by simply talking to them.

    Sharing our admiration, but not tripping on our tongues. When I worked in radio, and prepared to talk with a celebrity, I had to get past the "Oh my God, I'm talking to Dr. Phil today" jitters, so I could have a real conversation with him. We can't allow ourselves to be intimidated by the success of another person, because as you so perfectly put it "he (or she) still goes poopie."

    <abbr>Mary-Lynn’s last blog post..Clowning Achievements</abbr>
  • @Mary-Lynn - It's funny how feeling equal to other people is always harder in practice. Maybe it's because actions are the strongest indication of one's self confidence?
  • @Chris - Why doesn't anyone ever want to be Robin?
  • Why doesn’t anyone ever want to be Robin?


    Because his name is Dick.

    <abbr>Brian Clark’s last blog post..Content Marketing Gets Real: Sonia Interviews Naomi Dunford of IttyBiz</abbr>
  • @Brian - Very funny! And well written.
  • There are a lot of Super Stars. Lots of talent. However, Talent and hard work may get you to the top, but it's character that will ultimately keep you there. Observing Chris Brogan's online presence and meeting him IRL, his character is consistent and I believe that is one of the most important keys to his Super Star Success! So glad to had the opportunity to meet this fine man! There were many in the same room, but some just stand out more than others.
  • I love Chris, but not because of his 'rock star status' but because there is a lot I can learn from him. I'm not in worship, but listening and learning from the best. Actually I find myself in awe of a lot of people I meet on-line. This social media stuff seems to make some people just bigger than life and it all comes down to this for me:
    Are these people approachable? Do they care about helping others? Usually the bigger the star the more caring and helping goes on. Chis Brogan was generous with advice and sharing with me at SOBCon. He lived up to rock star status by being approachable, helpful, caring. I interviewed Chris on SOBCon radio, he was gracious and shared all he knew with the audience. And that makes him an even larger than life figure and a bigger rock star. - Not worship, but admiration.

    (and BTW...Holy #$% You got Brian Clark to comment!?@#$..)
  • John, YOU are larger than life, man! I speak to you on the phone and I think, "Holy crappers....I'm talking to John Haydon!"

    You rock...and yes, we all poop. Ugh. I hate having to reveal that!

    <abbr>The Daily Blonde’s last blog post..Ass Hat of the Week Award: Iconix Brand Group, Inc.–Candie’s Shoes</abbr>
  • @Cheryl - Wow - I say to myself, "I am speaking to The Daily Blonde". I hide my stuttering very well, I guess. ;-)
  • Perfection is impossible, except when it comes to photos, TV and edited content (sometimes). It is the driving force of romance novel heroes and comic books. I'm sure we've all heard (or have said), "I met so and so and (s)he was , [attentive] or [so friendly to me] or [much shorter than I imagined] -- all HUMAN traits that only appear in reality. Oh, and to Brian Clark, FYI: the NEW Robin is actually Damian (not Dick).
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