How to Become a Superhero: 3 Principles from Marvel

Psychologist and journalist Tyler Tervuren drew several important conclusions from the success story of one of the most famous companies in the world. These conclusions will be useful to you, too. Martin Goodman understood the importance of risk. The eldest of thirteen children in a family of immigrants from Lithuania, he grew up during the Great Depression and traveled around the country, living in hobo camps. All over America there was misery and despair. Risk-takers from his parents' generation had virtually destroyed the country's economy, and now Americans were hungry for only security and stability. But Martin wanted something more. He wanted to be a publisher and went to work for Eastern Distributing Corp, where he was in sales. He worked long and hard, trusted his intuition, and climbed the corporate ladder. Big things awaited him. But then Eastern Distributing went bankrupt, and Martin lost his job. Many in his position would have sunk into depression, but Martin persevered - he wanted to move on. After a few jobs and some minor successes, Martin decided to start his own company - Timely Publications. He noticed that superhero characters were becoming popular, so he made a risky bet: he paid a company to develop a superhero comic book and printed a million copies. The fate of his business was at stake. Martin was betting on products that could be a huge success, and he knew he had a hit on his hands when the writers of his magazine came up with a new star character - the Human Torch. Sound familiar? The hero became a member of the Fantastic Four. It is one of the most enduring and recognizable brands in comics of all time. It is owned by Marvel Comics, as Martin's company has been called since 1961. What can we learn from Martin's story? If you want to know how to create something great, you also need to understand what it is like to risk everything and stand on the brink of failure. If you want to ride this wave, there are three important lessons and rules for success from Marvel’s history that you can learn from. 1. Big Motivation Means Big Risk Have you ever noticed that spending an extra $5 at the grocery store is a no-brainer, but when you have to buy something big — a car, a computer, or go on vacation — you invest significant time and attention into it? We’re programmed to focus on big things and get them right because big means risky. We’re motivated to avoid losses. Buying a big thing requires a lot of money, and for most of us, that means spending a lot of time. If it fails, it’s a long time — and many hours of work — before you can try again. Martin Goodman sold a million copies of his first comic book because he had no choice: the printer wouldn’t take them back if they didn’t sell. He had an incentive to get it done because it would be a disaster to do otherwise. I call this “ticking time bomb” approach to achieving goals. If you want to make sure you do something big — especially if you’re not sure you can do it — plan ahead for some things that you can’t take back and that make failure an unattractive option. This doesn’t mean, of course, that you should rush headlong into something that could destroy your life with no sign of success. Take small risks first before you take big ones. When I wrote that Goodman ordered a million copies of the comic, I left out an important detail. He initially ordered 100,000 copies to test the waters. When they sold out, he realized he had a reason for it, and was willing to make a huge gamble — printing many more. The second batch sold just as well as the first. 2. Set Tight Deadlines to Stay Focused In 2009, Disney bought Marvel Comics for $4 billion. And if that doesn’t surprise you, Marvel had gone bankrupt a decade earlier. In some ways, the story of Marvel is like a great comic book. Good has been defeated, and it seems that evil has won. But just when things look bleak, a hero appears. There is no time, so he immediately takes action. He quickly prepares for battle, gathers others around him, and then, against all odds, they defeat the villains. Marvel’s savior was businessman David Maisel, who managed to unite the organization around strict deadlines and incredible risks. Less than a decade after Marvel suffered its worst defeat ever — going bankrupt — and no one at the company was willing to take serious risks, Maisel convinced Marvel’s leadership to take the biggest risk in the company’s history: building its own movie studio, faster than it thought possible. The company took out a $500 million loan, payable in just seven years. And they paid it back. But anyone who understands human psychology and knows Parkinson’s Law—that tasks fill up all the time allotted to them—would say it couldn’t be any other way. When people set incredibly tight deadlines, incredible things often happen. When people do that, they know that doing the right thing is more important than anything else. And the best way to focus on the right thing is to give yourself no time to focus on anything else. Maisel knew that the key to success is not just to do something big, but to do it fast. He knew that a looming deadline would instill in people the sense of urgency needed to make big changes. I call it the “big dream theory.” And it worked. When you want to organize something big—especially when you need other people to help you do it—your team needs to feel pressured, to feel like every action counts. Tight deadlines lead to sharp focus, and sharp focus leads to success. 3. Don’t be afraid to steal good ideas Steve Jobs used to say that good artists copy and great artists steal. What he meant was that truly great ideas and products come from improving on something that already exists. That’s how Apple created the Macintosh, the iPod, and other products that changed markets. Marvel, in its early days and after bankruptcy, did the same. And you can do the same. When Martin Goodman started Timely Publications and launched his first comic book, he wasn’t coming up with a new idea. Comic books had been around for years, and superhero stories were just starting to take off. Martin took an incredible risk, but he was betting on something that was already working. He improved on an existing concept and bet everything on it. David Maisel did the same thing when he brought Marvel out of debt. Superhero movies had been made for decades. Including movies about the characters in the Marvel universe. And he knew there was a lot of money to be made making his own movies, because other studios were making that kind of money making Marvel characters. They stopped licensing their characters and started making their own movies. They went all in on that idea, and it worked. Chances are, what you’re doing now isn’t a new idea. That’s not a bad thing, that’s a good thing. It means you have something to work with. That you see where others have failed before you. That you see what already exists and what you can do better. And if you put all your energy into making it better, you’ll probably succeed. Things You Can Do Right Now If you have an idea you want to make happen, you’re going to have to take risks. And if you want to inspire other people to make that idea happen, you’re going to have to take big risks. Here’s where to start: — Make the risks even bigger. You’re going to need all the motivation you can get — and that means taking on a task so big it can’t be ignored. — Set yourself tough deadlines. Great things happen fast when people focus on what matters most, and nothing helps that happen like a looming deadline. — Build on what’s already working. A new, innovative idea isn’t nearly as useful to the world as an existing idea that’s been perfected. Ask yourself what it would take to make your idea five times bigger. Then ask yourself what you would do if you had to finish it five times faster. Your answers will get you closer to the real solution. To be on the brink of success, you have to be on the brink of failure. That doesn’t mean the odds of success and failure have to be equal. Not at all. But the stakes have to be high. Only then will your inner hero come out to save the world.