• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Margie ClaymanMargie Clayman

Marietta, OH

  • About Me
  • Marketing
  • Librarianship
  • Random Musings
  • Contact Me

20 Engagement Lessons from Harry Potter

July 25, 2011 by Margie Clayman 8 Comments

I was a pretty late addition to the Harry Potter bandwagon, I must admit. When I was in grad school a friend convinced me to buy the first book, and I did. I sat down to read it and all I could think was, “Hmm, well that reminds me of that movie. That comes from that book. Oh, she stole that from this story.” I know, a very snobby way to look at things, but that’s what the ivory tower does to ya, right?

Thanks to TBS and their penchant for showing every single Harry Potter movie over and over again, I’ve gotten a bit more interested in the series. I watched the first part of the finale over the weekend and am planning on going to the theater to see the finale of the finale.

I’ve written about Harry Potter a bit (though of the epic film series of the oughts I tend to lean towards Lord of the Rings), but as I think about the series, there really are a lot of lessons one can take away about engagement. Here are some that I came up with.

1. Everyone has a gift, even the person you think is a total bum. Look at what Harry’s aunt and uncle ended up discovering about him!

2. Revenge tends to only make you look bad. Harry may at times have tried to get his icky cousin into trouble, but it always backfired.

3. People may be following your progress (or your example) even if you don’t know it. Harry had no idea that so many people were interested in how he was doing before he headed out to Hogwarts for the first time.

4. Fame may not be all it’s cracked up to be. Harry Potter arrived at Hogwarts with a reputation already in place. While it may have paid off in some ways, it also attracted the envy and negative attention of boys like Malfoy.

5. People are complicated and it’s difficult to see all of their soul in one fell swoop. At first, Hermione seemed like a very uptight show-off. It took a long time for Harry and others to see what a good heart she had.

6. It’s easy to be a rival. It’s difficult to be a compassionate rival.

7. Things are seldom as they appear. Hagrid seemed big and scary and his pets often seemed quite monstrous, but in fact Hagrid was one of the most trustworthy people at the school, and his pets were loving creatures.

8. Alliances are important. There are a lot of alliances throughout the Harry Potter story. People create alliances for strength or to change the way things are.

9. Alliances can be dangerous. When you are allies with a group of people, your fates are intertwined. You are sharing your vulnerable spots, and it’s easy for things to go awry. That is not to say you should avoid alliances, but you must choose carefully to avoid harm.

10. Sometimes danger comes from the corner where your closest friends are.

11. Two friends can be better than a host. In the end, Ron and Hermione were enough to sustain Harry through the hardest parts of his journey.

12. Identify your fears. If other people identify them first, your cause can be lost.

13. Sometimes you have to let people help you even if you feel like you can do everything yourself.

14. You never know a person’s full story or rationale for doing things. We can’t reside in peoples’ heads. Even Snape had problems with that.

15. People will sometimes pretend to be other people, especially in the online world. Have ways to be on the look-out for those situations.

16. Sometimes people who don’t (from your perspective) deserve to land on top do. Lamenting this only adds to the darkness. Working to correct the situation without doing harm is the best path.

17. Don’t ask others to do what you wouldn’t do yourself. The story would have been quite different if Harry had said, “Yeah…you guys go fight the dark lord. I’m just uh…I’m just gonna chill here I think.”

18. It’s easy to listen to the negative. It’s a decision to embrace the positive – online and offline.

19. Look for people who can balance you somehow. Harry’s darkness was balanced by Ron’s impish sense of humor. His passion was balanced by Hermione’s logic.

20. The people who are there for you in the dark times and who are there to celebrate with you when you succeed – those are the people you want and need in your corner.

These are 20 lessons I’ve pulled from Harry Potter when it comes to online engagement, but I would love to hear what you come up with. Whatcha got?

This is post #96 in the Engagement Series. If you’re worried about missing future posts, please feel free to hit the subscribe button!

image by Eszter Szöllõsi. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/Eszter

Filed Under: Marketing Talk

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jason Sokol says

    July 25, 2011 at 8:34 pm

    21. Remember the humility. Harry and his young cohorts screwed up plenty of times and yet they continued to persevere – successful social media efforts require you to laugh at yourself while continuing to push forward.

    22. Master a few good spells and learn to use them well. We have a tendency to what to do it all. Harry had that amazing spell that drove away the death eaters away every single time. Identify your best spells and learn how to use them well.

    @jwsokol

    Reply
    • Margie Clayman says

      July 26, 2011 at 4:36 pm

      I especially like your point #1, Jason. Humility is so important, and it’s kind of an endangered species online, unfortunately.

      Thanks so much for your comment!

      Reply
  2. FutureExpat says

    July 26, 2011 at 12:47 am

    Um. . . or “erm” as Harry would say. . . at the risk of sounding like a total Harry Potter geek, don’t you mean the amazing spell that drove away the DEMENTORS every time? Harry didn’t have a spell to drive away Death Eaters, although I’ll bet he wished he did. The dementor-driving-away was the Patronus.

    Nice points, Margie, except that Hagrid’s pets weren’t always loveable. Some were, but Aragog? Norbert? Not so much.

    As a side note, I’m so glad she’s finally agreed to release the books in electronic versions!

    Reply
    • Margie Clayman says

      July 26, 2011 at 4:42 pm

      Oh boy, a Harry Potter expert! Thanks for the clarifications 🙂

      Reply
      • FutureExpat says

        July 27, 2011 at 12:01 am

        You’re welcome. Mischief managed. B-)

        Reply
  3. Rufus Dogg says

    July 26, 2011 at 7:55 am

    21. Being petty looks silly on an adult. Perhaps instead of reading the US Constitution, the US Congress should be reading Harry Potter.

    Reply
    • Margie Clayman says

      July 26, 2011 at 4:42 pm

      that would keep ’em busy, anyway. And quiet 😉

      Reply
  4. Alan says

    July 26, 2011 at 5:47 pm

    I love the tie-in with Harry Potter. 🙂

    I’d say being courageous and moving forward even when there’s uncertainty of the outcome. We’re probably not facing the epic trials that Harry and his cohorts were facing but they can feel like them at times!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Previous Post: « Well that was subtle
Next Post: Twenty Tidbits of Twain Wisdom About Social Media Engagement »

Primary Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Seeing Double: African American Literature
  • Book Review: Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
  • Book Review: Land of Lincoln, by Andrew Ferguson
  • The portrayal of the infertile woman in entertainment
  • Chapter 3: A Weird Thing Happened Today

Recent Comments

  • Delores Baskerville on Are you locking out blog subscribers?
  • frank c tripoli on Book Review: Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
  • Lyv on #30Thursday number 10 (we’re in the double digits?!?)
  • Fitoru on New Recipes, 2013
  • Anna Wyatt on Help me petition to deactivate driver-side airbags for Little People

Archives

  • February 2021
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • April 2017
  • October 2016
  • July 2016
  • April 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • December 2014
  • October 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • February 2014
  • December 2013
  • October 2013
  • August 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • July 2012
  • June 2012
  • May 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • June 2007
  • April 2007

Categories

  • Book Reviews
  • Crafts and Charity
  • Gardening for Renters
  • Marketing Talk
  • Molly Maggie McGuire
  • Musings
  • PassionPlayers
  • Uncategorized

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Footer

marjorie.clayman@gmail.com

   

Margie Clayman © 2022