Case Study 8: Wire 2 Model
The Napa Uptown Theater, with its vintage Art Deco design, warm earth-toned walls, and retro accents, sets the perfect stage for a “Wire 2 Model” evening honoring the legacy of role models.
Partnering with the Napa Library, the “Wire 2 Model” event celebrates the profound influence of role modelship through stories, discussions, and performances. Surrounded by elegant decor and glowing ambiance, the venue buzzes with energy as attendees connect and reflect on the enduring impact of inspirational figures in their lives.
HeroMash’s executive leadership team has gathered to honor and celebrate the individuals who make the organization thrive: you, the team, especially unsung heroes, the board members, partners, and customers. This event is a testament to the collaborative spirit that fuels HeroMash’s success, recognizing the shared commitment to innovation and excellence.
The celebration is more than a formal acknowledgment; it’s a platform to reflect on the collective achievements made possible through envisioning, creating, demoing and sustaining impact.
Board members and you are celebrated for your strategic foresight, partners for a relentless drive to create value, and customers for trusting HeroMash to deliver amazing products while demonstrating positive human values.
When you get up on the stage, you carry a Post-It note with ten words.
You adjust the microphone to your lower height. “Some of you know I have a brain tumor, and possibly a year to live.” The audience gasps. “So, I’m handing the modelship torch to you and giving you the list of role models who changed my life.” You take a deep breath. You’ve been working on this list your entire life. You smile and brush a tear off.
“Happiness, gratitude, family, age, my word, forgiveness, fear, greed, shame, death.
Each serves as a profound role model, teaching us essential lessons about the human condition. These words shape how we navigate life, offering guidance, resilience and a mirror. By retrospection, we uncover insights that influence our pivotal decisions, relationships, and growth trajectory.
A good apology is like an antibiotic.
A bad apology is like rubbing salt in a wound.
Like a paper airplane, these words embody simplicity yet carry the potential to soar, representing our ability to transform ordinary experiences into extraordinary journeys. Each word, like a folded crease, contributes to the aerodynamics of our moral and emotional flight. Choose your words wisely, my friends, as they define your role modelship.”
Someone waves a cell phone with a bright light on. A few others follow, the silence deep and meaningful. You feel full.
When Ken, CRO of HeroMash’s autonomous vehicles division gets up on the stage, he’s holding a paper airplane with the modelship heartbeat symbol on its wings.
“I asked AI this prompt: Please create an image of a person looking at themselves in a mirror, holding a wooden cube with these words: HUMAN MODEL, ORG MODEL, PRODUCT MODEL. AI created this image; you be the judge.
An image is displayed on the screen behind Ken.
“Many of you remember Ray Dean, our previous CRO.” Ken smiles into the microphone. “He handed down the torch to me when he left. A paper airplane symbolizes a mix of simplicity, creativity, and ambition. It often represents the innocence and curiosity of childhood, the idea of sending your dreams or ideas into the world, or a lighthearted approach to tackling challenges.
That is Ray to the core. A child who refuses to grow up, Ray loves experimenting and letting go of perfectionism to explore new possibilities, while maintaining high quality when human values and lives are at stake.” Ray Dean waves from the front row as the camera pans to him. “The act of folding and launching a paper airplane encapsulates transformation, turning a simple piece of paper into something with the potential to fly. Have you jumped off a cliff and found your wings on the way up?
This event serves as a powerful reminder that HeroMash’s mission is only as strong as you, the people who believe in us and contribute to our flight.
We are building a legacy together and encoding it into AI. Leadership and sponsorship are at the heart of our journey, so I’m calling on everyone to embrace your capacity to guide, uplift, and champion others while we train AI. In this spirit, this event becomes a space not just for celebration but for envisioning what’s next and how to sustain our human impact. Next quarter, we’re launching an entertainment show, called “Role Model and Secret Fan.”
On the giant screen, you see hundreds of phones with the lights on, beaming light in the future.