Stick and Move

A few nights ago I was getting punched in the face. Not a lot, but enough for me to realize that it annoys me.

I was fighting three of my sparring partners, all of them with a longer reach than me. I can shrug off a body shot like it never happened, but there’s something special about having my cage rattled. Even as my brain responded to each punch to my forehead or chin inside of a millisecond with, “What the–??” and then, “Ouch!” and then, “Don’t let that happen again, Captain!” (that’s what my brain calls me when we talk to each other, Captain, and in a Scottish accent no less) I was still reminded of a few lessons that not only apply to fighting and defending myself, but also in my business and personal life… 

1. Stick…   You can knock someone off focus with just a jab. Remember General George S. Patton’s famous mantra to his field commanders?  “I want you to hold onto them (the enemy) by the nose, and then kick them in the pants.”   In a fight, in life, in business, you can maintain control, or at least buy yourself some time, with minimal resources. It doesn’t have to be the “Big Right Hook” all the time. It can’t be. Too expensive. Too much mobilization of resources required to deliver it.  A jab however, in all its metaphorical forms, is a quick and easy way to set someone back on their heels so that you maintain control of the interaction and thus dictate the next step. And the next one after that. Until you’re ready to deliver the big right hook, win the argument, choose the restaurant, or close the sale.
2. …and Move. Keep moving. And not in and out, back and forth, either. Forget the full-frontal attack and retreat game. That’s for amateurs. Napoleon Bonaparte taught us that two hundred years ago. Instead, work the angles. Circle to the flank. Hit there. Try to get to the soft and unprotected spots on your opponent’s sides and rear. Can we do this in business? Every day. When we’re competing for a new client, why go head-to-head against our competitor’s strength? Yield that space and move the fight for your prospect’s attention to ground of YOUR choosing. A place where you have the upper hand.

How will you stick and move today?

The Age-Old Martial Arts Secret to Make Yourself Valuable to Others

Do you surround yourself with people who can do some
things better than you? How do you add value to your team?

A 100-year-old idea, born in the Industrial Age, still holds the key to unlocking our success today.

In fact, though the idea may have been first popularized in the 20th Century, it has actually been the key to success in the martial arts for thousands of years. In fact every civilization that has had a martial way of life, the Greeks, the Romans, the Egyptians, the Persians, the Celts, the Vikings, the Chinese, the Mongols, and hundreds of others, have proven the idea works.

Yet we continue to see people struggle. Rather than embrace the proven path, many still impede their own progress.

How? Those who fail to achieve their goal, of any kind, business, academic, athletic, often have at least one thing in common: They try to do it alone.

So what is that 100-year-old, Industrial Age idea that is actually thousands of years old and been proven many times over by every civilization?

Surround yourself with people who know more than you do, and give them the support they need to do their job.

Henry Ford, credited not for inventing the automobile but for inventing the automobile business, said this was his finest achievement, and the most important key to his business success.

Steve Jobs, a more modern example, lived by the same credo. He admitted in many interviews that the programmers he hired could write code in circles around him. But he had a vision for his company, and he had the wisdom to hire people who were better than him in the specific skills he needed to grow his business into a world-class organization.

General Dwight Eisenhower had a huge team of officers that helped him plan the D-Day Invasion and Operation Overlord. And he relied heavily on Bradley, Patton, and Britain's General Bernard Montgomery to carry that assault from the beaches of Normandy eventually into Berlin, and the end of Nazi tyranny.

Martial Arts Teaches You How To Be Valuable

And so it has been throughout martial history, especially at the soldier level. Martial artists and warriors have always known that the fastest way to train someone is to surround them with people higher in skill.

We see it in martial arts classes today. Sure, sometimes classes are divided into advanced and basic student groups, but even within those clusters there are levels of expertise.

Most notable perhaps is the humility I've heard some black belts admit to: That even a black belt can learn something from a new white belt.

Learning, and thus progress and success, can potentially happen anywhere, and from anyone. My own Senseis have brought in masters in knife fighting, and Muay Thai combatives, using this same logic. They believe that they serve their students better by bringing in masters in those specific skills to lead special seminars.

So if wise leaders surround themselves with people who know more than they do about the things necessary to achieve their goals, what can we do to make ourselves valuable to these wise leaders?

The answer lies in the question. If you're asking yourself what you can do to add more value to people, then you're on the right track. That's step one, realizing that there are people out there who need help. Now match your skill or knowledge with their need.

So pay attention to what interests you and what people need. Then, if you haven't already, get good at that. Real good at it. As in, better than most people you know.

This comforts me, and it should comfort you too. Why? Because for the most part, we have considerable control over our degree of mastery. Put in the time, put in the focus, put in the work, and chances are very good that you'll yield proficiency, and probably even excellence. Sound familiar? Overlay that last sentence over your martial arts journey, and you'll be able to see how your training has taught you how to practice, focus, work hard, and learn new skills. 

And it's taught you that the process can be fun.

Wise people have shaped history with their successes. But they still need more people around them who can do certain things better than they can. What they need, is you.