The wilderness years
First there is the rise and then there is the fall. The fall might be self inflicted but is engineered by events outside the control of the protagonist. After the fall, come the years of wilderness where the protagonist acquires some skills, makes alliances and figures out what it is they really want to do. Then begins their rise. The protagonist is uniquely mission focussed and knows this is their moment to achieve what they want. Everything they have been through, has prepared them for the obstacles that are in their way.
The Ramayana:
Ram is the crown prince of Ayodhya. However Kaikeyi, Ram’s Stepmother using requests that Bharat her son the king of Ayodhya and Ram be exiled to live a life in the forest for 14 years. Sometime during the end of his exile, Ravan, king of Lanka kidnaps Sita. Ram forges alliances with Sugreeva, ousted prince of the Vanar Kingdom, defeats Ravan and wins back Sita. He returns to Ayodhya to be crowned the King.
The Mahabharata:
Yudhishthir, eldest of the five Pandava brothers, puts his kingdom Indraprastha, The Pandavas freedom and his wife Draupadi at stake while gambling with his cousin Duryodhana. Little does he know Shakuni, Duryodhana’s plays the dice like a fiddler plays the violin. Yudhishtir loses everything. The Pandavas are exiled for a period of 14 years. During the exile, the Pandavas build alliances and acquire weapons created by the gods. Ultimately they battle the Kauravas over 18 brutal days. They win the kingdom and all the spoils of war.
Steve Jobs:
Steve Jobs starts Apple with Steve Wozniak and is at the forefront of the computer revolution. Steve Jobs appoints John Sculley from Pepsi to be CEO. John Sculley masterminds the ouster of Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs is then in the wilderness. Steve Jobs works on Next and builds Pixar. His rough edges are rounded out. He keeps his vision but sharpens it with the hard edge of pragmatism. Apple acquires Next. Steve Jobs becomes CEO of Apple again. Unbelievably Steve Jobs turns Apple around by simplifying product lines, keeping only what’s essential and removing the rest. Apple goes on to make the iPod, and then makes the iPhone, the most successful consumer product of all time.1
Moses:
Moses is a adopted by the Pharoah’s daughter and grows up as Egyptian royalty. He kills an Egyptian slave master who is treating a slave poorly. Moses flees across the Red Sea. He encounters God speaking to him from the burning bush on Mount Horeb. He returns to Egypt. Moses aligns with Aaron, his eloquent elder brother. Moses asks that the Israelites be let go. When the king of Egypt does not acquiesce. Moses leads the exodus of Israelites2 to Mount Sinai, where he receives the Ten Commandments.
Winston Churchill:
As First Lord of the Admiralty during the First World War, he oversaw the Gallipoli Campaign but, after it proved a disaster, he was demoted to Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster.
After Gallipoli he is sent to the front lines of first world war. When Hitler is rising, during Churchill’s wilderness years in the 1930s, he is one of the few voices that talks about the dangers of appeasement. When Hitler invades and the first world war is a reality, he becomes the Prime Minister. He leads the empire of Britain to victory against the Axis powers. By all accounts, Churchill was the man for the occassion.
Lyndon Johnson:
Lyndon Johnson is a master of the senate. He then becomes VP to John Kennedy. As VP he is largely a third wheel and has lost the power he had in the Senate. After Kennedy's assassination, he uses everything he's learned to become one of the most effective presidents in US history. His administration passed many major laws that made substantial changes in civil rights, health care, welfare, and education.3
Lyndon Johnson, Jackson would say—and Jackson worked closely with Johnson as Representative and Senator for twenty-five years—Lyndon Johnson wouldn’t understand, would refuse to understand. He would “charm you or knock your block off, or bribe you or threaten you, anything to get your vote,” Jackson would say. He would do anything he had to, to get that vote. “And he’d get it. That was the difference.
Over 2.24 billion iPhones have been sold till about 2023.
Moses does this by parting the Red Sea.
For an excellent primer on Lyndon Johnson read this excellent blog post.