1. The Hero and the Sherpa: Your Guide Through Life’s Challenges

Joseph Campbell got it right. There is one universal path that leads through all of life’s challenges. In The Hero with a Thousand Faces (Campbell, The hero with a thousand faces. New World Library, Novato, 1949), he introduces The Hero’s Journey. For five decades I have been a catalyst for social, organizational, and personal change, and I have been a change Sherpa. For much of that time, I have also been a student of the human dynamics of change. In this chapter I share the most important lessons on change I have learned through The Universal Change Journey, a transformation framework I have created based on The Hero’s Journey. This chapter can serve as your personal Sherpa as you create your change story, prepare for the journey, plan for the journey, take the journey, and live the new reality; it can also serve as a guide as you support others through their transformations.