Martin Goodyer is a psychologist and corporate coach specialising in the leading and delivery of behavioural change. In addition to regularly appearing, contributing to, or acting as a consultant psychologist on television and radio, Martin is one of the UK's top Corporate and Business Coaches.

The real story of Rudolph

27 December 2009

Where did it come from?

I don't know about you but all too often I just accept things at face value without thinking about where they might have come from or what they really mean. When I was a kid I used to love the story of Rudolph with his red shiny nose, and his rise from outcast to hero! Until today I hadn't thought any more about it other than it's a lovely story and a fun song. But it turns out that it's so much more than that. It transpires that the story of how this story came about is as inspiring as the tale itself.

Picture December 1938 in the poorest part of Chicago

The great depression had left its mark on just about everyone and the world was unstable with war clouds on the horizon in Europe. In a modest 2 bed apartment a young man was mourning the imminent loss of his young wife Evelyn from cancer. Bob May was depressed and broken hearted but focused his attention on comforting his 4 year old daughter Barbara, who sat sobbing in his arms; she couldn't understand why mummy couldn't come home for Christmas or ever again. "Why isn’t my mommy like everyone else's mommy?" was a question he couldn't answer. All he could do was hold her tight and hold back even tighter the tears that threatened

While little Barbara's question was painful, it also stimulated Bob to find ways to make sense of their tragic circumstances. He was angry; angry not only over the senseless loss of his wife but with the hand that life had thus far dealt him. His life had always been difficult. From being bullied as a child for being smaller than the other boys and less good at sports, to just generally feeling 'different' and unable to fit in. But he'd got by and thought things were getting better when he'd met Evelyn and they'd married and had Barbara; he'd completed his education and landed a job as a copywriter at retailers Montgomery Ward, only to have that glimpse of what happiness could be, snatched away. Evelyn died just days before Christmas in 1938.

A heartbroken Bob found it difficult to give hope to Barbara for whom he couldn't even afford to buy a Christmas present (having spent every last dime on caring for Evelyn). So instead he decided to make one. His job was working with words so he crafted some of his own into a storybook for Barbara! In his mind Bob created a Christmas character that embodied all his own hopes and fears, his own struggles and hope for eventual triumph; and he called his creation Rudolph; one of Santa's reindeer, bullied and cast out by his peers for being different - by having a shiny nose.

Bob May finished his story book for Barbara just in time for her to have it on Christmas day

But the story doesn't end there - not by a long way! You see, the general manager of Montgomery Ward heard about Bob's little storybook and offered him a small amount of cash to buy the rights to print Rudolph's story. Bob agreed and they printed up the story as a free gift for children visiting Santa Claus in their stores. In the following eight years they distributed more than six million copies! And in 1946 they were approached by a publisher who wanted to update and print a newer version of the story.

In an unprecedented act of kindness, the CEO of Montgomery Wards gave Bob his rights back. The book became an instant best seller and as well as book royalties, numerous toy and marketing deals were to follow. Bob May, who was now remarried with a growing family, became a wealthy man. The story crafted to give comfort to his little girl had come back to reward him in ways that he could never have imagined. But the story doesn't end there.

Bob's brother in law, Johnny Marx turned the story into a song; and though it was initially turned down by well known singers like Bing Crosby and Dinah Shore, it was eventually recorded by the 'singing cowboy' Gene Autry. 'Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer' was released in 1949 and with the exception of 'White Christmas' became the biggest selling Christmas record of its time.

Bob had taken his pain and turned it into something positive; not by railing against an unfair world but by trying to make sense of it with love.

Happy Christmas x

What lasting story are you going to create in your life or business?

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