How do you move back and forth
through the two archetypes as a Heroic Leader?
Eric Rogell
Eric Rogell
While he described the warrior archetype as the ‘masculine’ power, Eric Rogell also describes the Lover as the ‘feminine’ force. He says “it is a powerful thing to lead with your warrior archetype and follow through with the lover.” The lover is the force that has to do with passion and creativity. It is slightly tender and scales up the balance of every situation. It comes from the heart and trust me; this particular archetype may be harder for men.
The Lover usually comes as a follow up from breaking the ice, surpassing fears, rising above challenges, setting ambitious goals, and other things that the warrior archetype may entail. The lover archetype leads after the warrior and nurtures the outcomes of the warrior archetype. You radiate and transfer passion and creativity when this form of an archetype is allowed to manifest. Just like other archetypes, the Lover also has two sides to it. The empowering and the limiting side. The empowering, just as mentioned, nurtures and makes sure that you create passion and inspiration. The limitation on the flip side creates a form of confusion and frustrates even the results of the warrior archetype.
On the other end of the limiting side, these are words that will best express them;
Now, this is the most interesting part. Eric Rogell says that if you can merge these two archetypes, that’s when you get into the king and queen archetype. The king and queen are leaders who have the warrior mindset and also have love for people who are around them. This can be a big problem for most leaders.
It is not enough to have either one of these archetypes or both. But Heroic leadership, what makes you a King/Queen and allows you to inspire change, is in the balance of both archetypes. The King/Queen archetype, also known as leadership flow, is one of the shortcomings of many leaders. Men, especially, always possess the warrior archetype. Most often, they make up for the horrible bosses in the offices that are seen as rigid, unsupportive, and selfish. On the other hand, ladies are rather scared of the reputation they will create when they decide to be warrior leaders.
The Lover also is an archetype that can easily be shown by the ladies, but it is not always effective, especially in decision making and in situations where you need to get things done. Men who practice a leadership stance that only reveals the Lover archetype are seen as weak, confused, and complacent, and one may begin to wonder.
This is the most important part of heroic leadership. While it entails avoiding the limiting sides of both warrior and lover archetypes, it follows a certain guideline for effectiveness, intimacy, and inspiration.