Origin Stories
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“Begin at the beginning,” the King said, very gravely, “and go on till you come to the end: then stop.” - Chapter 12, Alice’s Evidence, Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Begin at the beginning. Because everything has a beginning, a start, a conception point. It is that moment in time when something starts taking form. By form I don't necessarily mean a physical being that you can see and touch but even something that resides in an individual's imagination. Across cultures, civilizations and time periods humans have told each other stories - stories of how the world came into being. Anthropologists and ethnologists, call these “Origin Stories.”
The more I think about it the more I realize that I have spent the last couple of years of my professional and personal life thinking about Origin Stories.
In my professional capacity I have spent a large amount of time advising organizations on their Brands (not the visual manifestation but the conceptual idea - of what that organisation stands for in the consumers mind) and now increasingly on their Purpose (beyond the woke washing and really helping them embed this into their core). At the fundamental level both of them are pretty similar with a focus on going back to the fundamentals of Why you exist. How that particular organization came into being, how their culture got defined and what values it wants to stand for.
At this point it is important to highlight that Origin Story is not necessarily the same as the moment something was incorporated. It comes from looking at pivotal incidents from the past and uncovering the choices made while facing those circumstances. I saw that most resilient thriving organisations (and at the basic level products) had a very sharply defined Origin Story which served as an anchor to guide their decisions across hiring, corporate culture and marketing.
This got me thinking. If organizations could use Origin Story to guide them maybe individuals could too! I wanted to unravel my own Origin Story - not the shallow "personal branding" kind but the deeper kind which would help me understand a little bit more about me as a person. [At the end of the post I have listed out some of the tools that I used to guide my thinking]
Knowing who I am and how I became that has been of immense help as I navigate being a first time parent in the middle of a pandemic. Also, it has made me realize that the birth of my first child is a pivotal incident in my life but not necessarily in the life of my daughter. For her it will just be a fact - she was born on a certain day in 2020. Being born in the middle of a pandemic may or may not be a part of her Origin Story.
This is something that I keep repeatedly telling myself. Bruce Wayne wasn’t born Batman. Peter Parker wasn't born Spiderman. They became who they became because of the choices they made and not because their parents wanted them to be a certain someone. As a parent my job really is to be on the sidelines and watch this little human grow and become a certain person in this world. I am excited to see this Baby experiences different things in life and as a result stumble upon her own Origin Story. I do however wonder what it will be and how she will tell it!!
Below are the 2 tools I used to uncover my own origin story:
High low chart
This is an exercise best done with people you know but not too well. It is also important to maintain a circle of trust and ideally have them engage in this exercise. I did this with a few of my B-school classmates.
How do you do this?
Create a timeline of your life starting from your first memory or the first story someone told you about your existence (e.g. You were a preemie or your family fled a conflict zone etc) and then go on to cover all the high and low points in your life so far
Analyse these events. I feel talking with your trust circle helps as they can uncover things you may not see. Talk about the pivotal events that changed the trajectory of your life, things that you are extremely proud of, adversities that you experienced and how you reacted
Step back and see if a common theme emerges . Is there that one event which helped propel you towards achieving almost everything else that you are proud of, Is there a certain way in which you talk about your low points and how you fought back?
Frame this into your story. It could be anything: the underdog who always fits back, the wonder kid who keeps aiming higher, the chosen one, the lucky accident, gritty resilient average joe etc
Example of what a high-low chart could look like:
Concentric circles (I need a better name for this and this needs refinement):
This is a tool that has been inspired by Simon Sinek's "Start with WHY" framework as well as Gerard (Geert) Hendrik Hofstede "Onion Model of Culture"
How do you do this?
Start from the outer most layer and work your way inwards
Events layer: List out all the high and low points of your life
Reaction layer: Group these events across different reactions you exhibited which dealing with the events that you listed
Theme layer: Do all the reactions point towards one theme? Is there a way you could distill this down to 1-2 words of who you are e.g. Accidental hero
A note on Ikigai: It is an interesting concept and a lot has been written about it. However, I don't think it is a tool to help you define your Origin Story. It is of course a great tool to help you uncover things you would be happy doing or as some call it your life's purpose. If you have the time and the inclination it is a exercise worth undertaking.
I would love to hear from you, feedback is always welcome!
Love it Rashi - thanks for sharing your honest and profound thoughts and the process involved! Can’t wait to read more!
Like your other articles, this one too, is crisp!!.
I have done this high-low chart like exercise in past, not knowing that it is called ‘high-low’ chart.
It surely gives me a perspective now to try again!!