The Talent is the Hero – If your employer brand still revolves around your recruitment needs, your shiny tech stack or your latest product feature—you’re not branding a company. You’re feeding a leadership ego.
And egos don’t scale.
Welcome back to the Story-Driven Business Podcast.
I’m your host, Susanna Rantanen, the creator of the Magnetic Employer Branding Method™ and the author of Story-Driven Employer Branding.
If you’re new here, a warm welcome to the show formerly known as Building a Modern Employer Brand. And if you’ve been with me for a while, thank you for sticking around as we level up together into the business storytelling era.
As I continue my journey post-book launch, I want to expand our conversations beyond HR and into the boardroom.
My mission is to help growth-minded leaders and ambitious professionals understand how brand strategy built around people—not products—transforms business impact.
Especially in B2B and knowledge-intensive sectors, where competitive advantage is no longer found in features or pricing, but in people.
Today’s episode is one of the most pivotal episodes I’ve ever recorded. Because it introduces a narrative and leadership shift I believe every modern CEO, founder, CMO and CHRO needs to hear: The talent is the hero.
The Talent is the Hero is the one shift that changes everything—from your leadership communication to your culture, your recruitment, your brand reputation, and ultimately, your business’ success.
Episode 196 The Talent is the Hero: A Leadership Shift That Changes Everything
What if your employees were the protagonists of your business strategy? What if your Talent is the Hero?
Not a support act. Not the background cast. But the main characters in your company’s success story.
It sounds radical, but it’s the very foundation of modern, magnetic employer branding.
When we start positioning our people as the heroes and ourselves—the leaders, the executives, the founders—as the guides, we unlock a level of emotional connection, innovation, and commitment that no campaign or policy can buy.
This is not fluff.
This is the science of influence. And the heart of The Magnetic Employer Branding Method™.
Find Story-Driven Business Podcast On Your Favourite Podcast App
Subscribe to this podcast on your favourite app, and you’ll never miss a new episode about modern employer branding!
Better yet, if you love this podcast, make sure you rate it on your favourite podcast app!
Here are some of the platforms where you can find this podcast.
SOUNDCLOUD | SPOTIFY | APPLE / ITUNES | YOUTUBE | GOOGLE PODCASTS | AMAZON MUSIC
The Problem: Hero Complex Leadership
We live in a business world that still worships the visionary founder, the genius CEO, the spotlight-hungry executive.
Think Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, or even influencers turned executives. And while there’s nothing wrong with strong leadership, there is something deeply flawed in the “hero complex” narrative.
Because when leadership tries to be the hero of the story, there’s no space left for the actual people doing the work to feel seen, recognised, or essential.
The result?
Engagement plummets.
Talent leaves.
And your business becomes known as a place where ideas go to die under the weight of ego.
But here’s the good news: There is another way.
And it starts with a simple but powerful narrative shift.
The Shift: From Hero to Guide
This idea is deeply rooted in both narrative science and human behaviour.
In the Magnetic Employer Branding Method™, the first one of the Five Key Principles is this:
The talent is the hero.
The second Key Principle is this:
The employer is the trusted guide.
This isn’t just theoretical.
It’s inspired by the work of storytelling experts like Joseph Campbell and Donald Miller (author of Building a StoryBrand), and it’s backed by neuroscience and behavioural psychology.
In every great story, the hero is the one with the challenge. The problem. The dream. The pain. And the guide? The guide helps them overcome the obstacles.
Think of:
- Yoda mentoring Luke Skywalker
- Dumbledore guiding Harry Potter
- Haymitch coaching Katniss Everdeen
Now imagine your leadership team playing that role in your business narrative. Not controlling the story, but enabling your people to triumph in it.
When you narrate your business strategy as a support system for your employees’ success, retention rises. Innovation kicks in. Trust becomes your default culture.
And best of all? Your brand becomes human. Relatable. Magnetic.
Check out this previous episode on the topic of Talent is the Hero.
An example: B2B Tech Company Transformation to Talent is The Hero Narrative
Let me share an example.
Often times entrepreneur-led firms, especially in technology sector have a classic founder-led narrative. The entire brand revolves around “our innovation,” “our story,” “our genius.”
The employees? They are nowhere in the narrative. Which makes them feel they are not invested in. Especially, when their contributions are what turns innovations from ideas to commercial products and services.
Flipping the narrative around, from the focus on innovations and company story to real and raw transformation stories about the people behind the innovations and their experiences on turning those innovations from ideas to sellable products is far more telling about the business than focusing on the tip of the ice berg.
Topis like stories of new hires, employees growing into leaders during the innovation and growth times, teams tackling hard customer and development problems and individuals overcoming personal barriers at work make your employer brand many more times compelling than any messaging that emphasizes the company or the leadership as the heroes.
Reframing the leadership voice as the guide: “Here’s how we support, believe in, and clear the path for our people and customers” is key to the narrative shift and the talent is the hero -positioning.
When you stop making it about the company—and instead make it about the people is what empowers your talent audiences both internally and externally to tribute their work and share their inspirational stories externally.
This is what happens when you make the talent the hero.
Why This Matters in The New Economy?
In 2025 and beyond, talent is no longer a “resource.”
It is your intellectual capital.
In knowledge-based industries and B2B markets, your people are your value creation mechanism. They build the product, serve the customers, improve your processes, solve your crises, and design your future.
The companies that win won’t be the ones with the loudest sales pitch. They’ll be the ones with the most trusted people stories.
And trust me—those stories only stick if the protagonist is someone your audience can see themselves in.
How Leaders Like You Can Implement The Talent Is The Hero Shift
- Audit your leadership communications. Are you or the client always the subject? Try flipping the spotlight to the individuals in your team.
- Use social media to lift up your people. Share their growth stories. Celebrate their milestones. Make them the face of your strategy.
- Narrate your strategy differently. Say, “Our job as leaders is to remove blockers, offer clarity, and give people the conditions to thrive.”
- Ask yourself daily: Who did I help shine today?
This is story-driven leadership in action.
Key Take-Aways From This Episode on The Talent Is The Hero
- Your talent is the hero. Full stop.
- Your leadership role is to guide. Not to dominate.
- The Magnetic Employer Branding Method™ teaches this shift as a foundational mindset, not just a messaging tool.
- Retention, innovation, and trust improve when talent feels narratively empowered.
I want to leave you with this:
The best leaders aren’t remembered for being the loudest voice in the room.
They’re remembered for being the voice that helped others find theirs.
So this week, instead of writing your next LinkedIn post about what you accomplished, write about the incredible journey of someone on your team.
Let them be the hero.
You might be surprised just how powerful that makes you.
If you enjoyed this episode, follow the podcast, leave a review, or share this with a fellow leader ready to make the shift from hero to guide.
Until next time—keep leading with story and make your talent the hero of your employer brand story.
