Image by rpeschetz via FlickrAn old friend of mine (Rick Mans) wrote on his blog that heroes and champions are not the solution to everything. His point is that you don't need heroes and champions to drive adoption of social media. So you need them to start the day, but if I understand Rick correctly, you should'nt expect them to save that day in the end.But Rick, didn't you realize? Super heroes are soooo 1980! They wouldn't dare to go too public these days, because up front heroism is uncool. So they are holding themselves back and try to make a normal living like everyone else. I bet Spiderman is on the web all day from his depressing cubicle and sending updates on twitter (@depressedspider) like "need more coffee to keep me going till 5 pm".
Avid social media junkies with their enormous ego's position themselves as super heroes (like the self declared guru Robert Scoble), but @depressedspider isn't one of them. Real heroes are modest and do their heroic actions "matter of factly" and without a mask on and with their underwear under their clothes. Heroes are modest and don't like all the fuss about the thing they did to save someone's life. They "just" acted out of compassion. So there's my point (and I guess Rick's too): be compassionate about the things you do, and heroism comes natural. If you are in the right job, compassion should come easy.
