Adrie's Blog

Warrior

The word that somehow was at the front of my mind several times this week, was "warrior" - to the front of a normally peaceloving mind at that.

According to the Random House Dictionary, the term warrior has two meanings. The first literal use refers to "a man engaged or experienced in warfare." The second figurative use refers to "a person who shows or has shown great vigor, courage, or aggressiveness, as in politics or athletics." And... I'd like t add "building a business" to the latter part of that definition. It requires great courage, mental strength, a certain aggressiveness that allows you to think ahead, never letting your focus waver. Taking a wrong turn can often mean the end of your (ad)venture.

There are probably very few professions that require quite as diverse a range of skills and for which as little official education exists - partly because it is believed that most of the "skills" are actually character traits and mental versatility rather then material learnt.

Of course you can actually be taught many things in a school environment: Finance, Languages, Legal terms and structures, technical skills, sales and even networking. Those things harder to learn are toughness, courage and determination - you have the grains of those in you and then hone them on the battlefield we call business these days. But as said before, you cannot afford to make big mistakes on any battlefield or it will be the end of you.

What I love here in the Bay area in particular, is the fact that your failures aren't held against you - no, here, people see it as being part and parcel of gaining valuable experience. The question is not "what will you do!?" but "have you learnt from it?" If the answer is yes, then that's fine.

What makes a warrior truly great, are:
Gaining the theoretic knowledge and knowing how to apply it;
Mental resilience;
Starting every day with new energy
Being smart enough to ask for coaching and advice where ever you need it.

Battle used to be very simply - man to man. Now a lot of technology is involved. It is no difference in business these days. Learn and use any of the aids you can nowadays, and gain a rapid advantage on those you do battle with.