LES FIGHT!

If you are like me you loved every ninja movie as a kid, and high up on the best kid ninja movies of all time was "3 Ninjas." The epic story of three brothers whose grandpa takes them in during the summers, teaches them how to be men, and instructs them in the way of the ninja. They commonly refer to him as grandpa, or sensai. One of the best lines from any movie is what the sensai grandpa says to his grand kids Rockey, Colt, and Tum Tum (their proper ninja names) during training. "You never pick a fight, unless you know you can win." Those words echoed in my little man heart, and obviously i never forgot them. While this is great advice for real fights, and for most things in life it holds true but not always for leaders.

If you are a leader, or are learning to become one you will have to fight. Now i don't mean scrap, argue, or insult people. But you will at some point have to draw a line in the sand and say ENOUGH! It may be a rude customer taking out their unhappiness on a member of your team. It might be someone who swears they are correct, or trying to deal with an attitude of entitlement. It might be a competitor playing dirty, or slinging mud at your business on social media. What ever it may be, as a leader you will face conflict.

A leader advocates for and fights on behalf of their followers.

This is something i had to spend years learning, naturally i am a person who would rather make peace than charge face first into conflict. As a leader you don't always have the luxury of making peace, given that if possible peace can usually be the best option. But when the enemy is real, and will not be charmed or persuaded into resolution, you have a fight on your hands. As much as i LOVE the classic sensai quote, "You never pick a fight, unless you know you can win." As a leader winning is not the most important thing, the most important thing is the fight itself. People want to follow someone who fights for them, who will defend them, their work, their well being, and their integrity. People abandon so called leaders who flee at the first sign of trouble, and distrust them accordingly.

It can be easy to try and evade conflict, or let people work it out among themselves. A leader spots the oncoming freight train and tosses themselves in front of it to push their followers out of the path of the train. Leadership is sacrifice. In the film "3 Ninjas" the sensai learns the evil plan of the villain Snyder who kidnapped the 3 ninjas and goes on a solo mission to stop him. In doing so he breaks his own rule, Snyder is hold up on a massive freighter fully stocked with his evil ninja mercenaries. In his heart the sensai knew he could not win a duel against Snyder who is in his prime, not to mention the evil ninja army. But he used stealth and surprise to attempt the rescue of his grand sons. I am not going to spoil the ending but you get the picture.


What does this follow?

To a leader his followers are more important than himself. A leader has to fight for his followers if he really believes in them. Winning helps, but standing up and fighting is more important. When it comes to your team the sensai quote would be, "Fight for your team, even if you know you can't win." That is what a leader does. Act.