ANCIENT MARTIAL ARTS – HELPING WIN THE BUSINESS DOGFIGHT ON THE ECONOMIC BATTLEFIELD
9 Jul 2009
Business in the current economic downturn is like fighting a war or a martial arts bout. It’s survival of the fittest.
The definitive sixth century book on Chinese military strategies and tactics, The Art of War, teaches that “in chaos and confusion, there is opportunity” and there are a host of opportunities for alert, aware and appropriately prepared businesses amid the chaos and confusion of the current financial meltdown.
The key principles were laid out by ancient martial arts experts and traditional military strategists - you must be fit and trained for the fight, gather all the intelligence you can, know how to survive short-term pain and have the perseverance to win the dogfight.
Senior executives and their teams need to prepare for the new Financial Year and onwards with the same precision as those military commanders and martial arts experts.
Health and fitness is the crucial platform. Can you imagine going into a martial arts contest on the back of three hours’ sleep and a diet of fast food? That spells certain failure – because you’re opponent will be mentally and physically fitter. It’s exactly the same in business. Too many senior executives spend all day, every day at work with irregular meals and sleep patterns. At best, that leaves them exhausted – at worst, heart-attack material. The first step to business success is to make sure you and your team are fit and healthy. Instead of organizing another meeting to fill the gap in the diary, senior executives should take an hour each day for ‘me-time’ – an hour where there are no meetings or interruptions. An hour at the gym, walking, reading a book or just relaxing. For the rest of the staff, do something which encourages their fitness and well being. Why not put a bowl of fruit at the front desk for everyone? Eating fruit is much healthier than going to the local coffee shop for a sugar-laden muffin a couple of times a day.
Concentrate your mind, intimidate your opponent.
Martial arts teach that before training for a bout, you take time to focus on what you really want from the encounter. Set specific – and, importantly, realistic and achievable – goals. In the same vein, the start of the business year is the ideal opportunity to establish individual and team goals. This way your staff will know exactly what’s expected of them. As you will be so well prepared, your opponents can be easily distracted. Look at Mohammed Ali – he was completely focused on winning his fights, but also made sure he intimidated his opponents. By the time they both entered the ring, Ali knew exactly what he wanted and how he would achieve it. His opponents were agitated and distracted by his antics and dropped their guard. Why don’t we do this in business with our opposition so we can gain market share?
Know your competition.
Armies spend years gathering intelligence about their opponents before they launch an attack. They know how many soldiers, aircraft, artillery and tanks they’re up against. Similarly, before a martial arts bout, you find out everything possible about your opponent. What are their favourite attacking moves, what are their weaknesses? You wouldn’t dream of embarking on a military campaign or walking onto the martial arts mat without any information about your opponent. You’d be beaten before you’d landed a blow. Yet I’m constantly amazed by the number of senior executives who either can’t identify their main competition or don’t know anything about them. Find out everything you can about your opponent – their clients, their products, their sales force, their strategies and tactics. Then attack their weaknesses.
Pain control and perseverance.
In battle and in martial arts, there’ll be pain and setbacks. You have to learn to manage the pain and you only achieve that by experiencing the pain. That’s what happens in martial arts training. You might get a fierce blow in the ribs, but you learn to soldier on. The same in business – there will be setbacks, but you can’t be deterred. For example, few people enjoy cold calling and after a couple of knockbacks the vast majority are quite happy to turn it in. No one enjoys that sense of personal rejection. So, what do you do – give up? No, you have to confront the situation and train yourself to persevere even though you’ve taken some pain. Your next blow may be the knock-out punch. The next cold call may bring in vital new business.
Training and coaching.
Imagine anarmy or martial arts expert going into battle without any training or coaching. It would be madness. So why do businesses expect to be successful when they don’t give senior executives adequate training or coaching? Especially in an economic downturn, training and coaching isn’t an expense, it’s an investment in the future success of your business. Executives with finely honed skills and a thirst for the battle are far more likely to lead their business army into a successful campaign.
Preparation, focus, discipline, determination and the will to win – they’re all key factors in successful military campaigns, martial arts battles, and most of all, in our daily business arena.
Training your executives and staff with the precision and discipline of an army or a martial arts expert will help you create and take the opportunities to build your business – especially when economic times are tough.
Jacob J Galea is an Executive trainer & life Consultant, Martial Arts Practitioner and Chief Executive of G-Corp Consulting based in Sydney Australia if you feel your corporate executives could do with some sharp training, you can contact him via Debbie Carr on 02 9977 1393 or email
Jacob Galea
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