Why I Love Harry
Elizabeth Kanna

At midnight tonight, my family and I are headed to our local Borders Books where we’ll join hundreds of other families to celebrate one of the biggest book release parties in history. Yes, we are diehard Potter fans. Some would consider us extreme Potter enthusiasts due, in part, to my work that led to my girls being featured on CW, CBS, and ABC as Hogwarts students (dressed in full Hogwarts school uniforms – Gryffindor, of course) while we attended the first Potter movie, and appearing on the front page of The Sacramento Bee celebrating at a previous Border’s Potter Bash.

Then, there is the home front. For years, we’ve had ongoing, book-specific discussions in our homeschooling house. These are part of language arts lessons. For example, is Rowling’s writing style verbose or concise? We look for hidden meanings, such as Diagon Alley and how the family bond saved Harry. We look for character development and purpose (Ron is the mouthpiece through whom Rowling shares with the reader all of the things Harry can’t say about himself). The Potter books have become well-loved fixtures in our home, chapters read again and again by my fourteen year-old daughter, Madison, a Potter aficionado, at breakfast and lunch everyday. I don’t recall the time when there weren’t several open Potter books decorating our home with their threadbare bindings on a kid’s bed, the kitchen table, the sofa, all patiently awaiting the reader’s return.

Yes, Harry Potter is beloved by my family, but that isn’t the reason I love Harry Potter.

It’s the story — not Harry’s, but the story of the brand Joanne Kathleen Rowling built. It’s the story of a single mother living on state benefits who becomes the only female billionaire in Britain, one of only 38 self-made female billionaires in the world. It’s the story of the only billion-dollar author in history.

I love what I do, and realize daily how fortunate I am to collaborate with talented individuals to create world-class books, businesses, and personal brands that monetize their passions, purposes, and talents. While nothing in life worth having is ever easy, I know that creating a million-dollar brand isn’t magic. Here are some of the elements that come together for success that you, too, can compile.

Passion
Long before Harry Potter became our favorite wizard, Rowling worked as a secretary. The only thing she claimed to like about that job was writing her stories on the typewriter while she had a break in her workday. Her passion was writing stories. (Rowling wrote her first book on a manual typewriter!) She followed her passion and continued to hone her talent. There are clues to help you discover your true passion. What do you do to relax? What brings you great joy and energy? What do you do or what do you like to do that could give you three-in-the-morning ambition? I’m not saying you should stay up until 2 or 3 A.M. on a daily basis, but what project, work, hobby, or cause would keep you inspired, full of energy and excitement late into the night? (This is a work-related question here, people.) You will recognize your passion when you find it, because you will suddenly have all the energy and imagination you will ever need.

Perseverance
Twelve publishing houses rejected Rowling’s first Potter novel. No one came to her early in her writing career and said, “You’re incredibly talented and I’m going to turn you into an author such as the world has never seen.” Rowling persevered through poverty, lack of support, training, experience, and connections. A close friend of mine once shared with me, “The only thing that kept my company alive (in the early days) was my shear perseverance.”  Many of you are entrepreneurs, and as such, perseverance is part of your DNA. However, we often get comfortable after reaching a certain level of success in our chosen fields. What new passion (or shelved passion) should you dust off and pursue without the safety net of current industry knowledge and connections?

Intellectual Property (IP)
In a world where copy cats and competition for your successful idea/product/service appear in a Google minute, Rowling created some of the best IP in the world. She weaved a captivating story where only she knew what would happen to our beloved characters. She wrote the first book, and then readers around the globe waited with bated breath for the next installment, and the next…and the next. What other intellectual property of record has invoked a global firestorm of pleas and speculation regarding the final demise of a product (yes, as much as we love him, Harry is a product)? Just like the Gringotts Bank, Rowling’s intellectual property is impenetrable to any copy cats or competition for her billion-dollar empire.

Positioning
All visionary, powerful, and lasting brands are built on the archetypes Carl Jung discovered.  There are no exceptions to this rule. Harry Potter, like another character in a billion-dollar brand, Luke Skywalker, who during the beginning of the story becomes the orphan archetype, then realizes he has special talents and is transformed into the hero. Archetypes provide the deep structure for human motivation and meaning. We encounter them in art, literature, sacred texts, or branding of individuals or companies, and they will evoke deep feeling within us. Your brand’s positioning and messaging must tell a story that resonates with the stories that have been told since humanity began.

The author, Joseph Campbell, talks about our universal yearning to discover our own unfulfilled potential. It resides in all of us, but will we find it? Will some muse or some set of circumstances help us unveil our untapped potential that is waiting to be uncovered?

Rowling took an idea that popped into her head while riding a train – a story of a pubescent wizard – and created a famous, world-renowned fairytale, literary legacy, and producer of personal wealth surpassing the thousand year-old British monarchy in just ten years. What book, screenplay, service, or product idea brewing inside you has Potter-like magic?