It’s what made America the great “Land of Opportunity” and brought our families here from distant corners of the world.
These days, many people in the business community feel that opportunity and success are luxuries they have to wait for. The’re waiting for new government regulations, someone to present a plan, or a seismic shift in the economy.
This kind of thinking is outdated and out of tune. Opportunity and success are not luxuries to be waited for. On the contrary, they’re waiting for us!
Opportunities are always present, and in most cases they’re right in front of our eyes. The problem is: we rarely know what they look like, and so we fail to recognize them.
This phenomenon raises several questions worth considering.
How can we proactively spot the opportunities right in front of us? Once identified, how can we gather the resources we need to turn these opportunities into successful ventures? And finally, where can we look for direction and guidance?
Although these questions are all “forward looking”, the answers to them may actually be waiting for us in the distant past — answers that will help us meet the increasingly difficult challenges before us.
Looking back in time, we can find many examples of individuals who were also facing difficult challenge — seemingly impossible challenges — and yet these individuals were able to achieve great success against extraordinary odds.
One such group were the warrior sages (warriors in possession of wisdom). Most notable of these were the Samurai.
In response to the difficult challenges they faced, the Samurai developed powerful training techniques to give themselves the ultimate competitive advantage.
They designed strategies, methods, and tactics that allowed them to outsmart and outmaneuver their opponents — opponents who often outnumbered them and had many more resources at their disposal.
Additionally, the Samurai also developed teachable systems for training others. As a result, they produced teams of empowered individuals armed with the skills and tools to succeed under conditions where failure was not an option.
Yes, the Samurai possessed extraordinary battlefield acumen, but they were not one-dimensional killing machines. On the contrary, they were equally known for their profound poetry, fine calligraphy, exquisitely delicate painting, melodious music, and many other forms of artistic expression.
How can people in today’s world benefit from the legacy of the Samurai? What can we learn from their extraordinary example of grace under fire?
Can we take their ancient tools and techniques and apply them to our modern day challenges? Absolutely!
The Samurai blueprint for achieving success can easily be adapted to any and all of life’s situations. Wisdom is wisdom regardless of time and place. The Samurai approach to achieving results is as effective in today’s workplace as it was on the battlefields of a thousand years ago.
Whether in combat, sales, security, management, or executive leadership — all of us can learn from this Samurai code of conduct: failure is not an option. Not just in theory, but in practice.
Because the Samurai didn’t just leave behind a legacy of courage, strength, and wisdom — they left behind a system for translating their mastery in ways that others could learn from, practice, and imbibe.
Mastermind Century Group 