The Supreme Ideal
Strengthen people's sense of belonging to the team by cultivating their faith in the virtues that you appreciate the most.
The day was almost at its end. The emperor, attended by his personal guard, is getting near to one of his best warriors. He had failed in the mission that he had been entrusted. He was on his knees. He knew what awaited him.
- In the day when I appointed you as a commander, I trusted you will not disappoint me. You lost the battle. Nearly two thousand of samurai died. Are you afraid of death?
The warrior refused to look into his master's eyes. He glanced aside, and then looked down. He waited for a while before answering. He was ashamed for falling into disgrace. He felt isolated, useless, and this experience represented a deep, agonizing humiliation for him. He was mentally accusing himself for his lack of wisdom, and he was not regretting he must die.
- No, master. I'm a samurai. I feel honored for having served you. I completed my duty as well as possible, but I failed. I deserve to die.
The emperor pulled his sword out. His sword was thought to be the world's sharpest, and his technique unmatched. He participated in many battles, and did not lose any of them. He was a flawless warrior.
- You can choose to die fast or slow !
A deep, invisible trembling invaded the samurai under sentence of death. However, he did not lose his courage. He was not going to beg for his life. The thought of being executed with a quick thrust of sword comforted him. He had nothing more to say. He had the spiritual strength to fall silent, to hide his defeat. He waited with his head bowed for his punishment. He could not be spared from this ordeal.
- I'll kill you as quick as I can !
In the next moment, the sword hit instantaneously and decisively. The inevitable occurred. The one who has sinned paid the maximum price.
Leadership: Can you stand the shame of defeat by appealing to an ideal that can take, according to circumstances, the appearance of an inevitable battle with the high stake of an outcome that can keep your value intact?
The greatest anguish of an ambitious man such as the samurai was to live with the thought of disappointing his master, with the shame of not having satisfied his master's expectations. He educated himself from early childhood not to make mistakes. From the moment he woke up, he used to devote himself in improving his virtues. He never lived with fear, thinking of the harm that could happen to him. For him, life could become tolerable as long as he served his master, otherwise it would have been pointless. He swore by his sword that he would defend the emperor and obey him to the death. Actually, and that it means to be a "samurai" to serve until your last breath.
In the 16th century, the famous war strategist Daidoji Yuzan wrote in his Treaty of ethics (Budo Shoshin Shu): „First of all, a samurai must remember, day and night, that he must die."
A samurai must not groan for wealth and reputation. His only mission was to serve his master as well as possible. His own life was the assurance he would complete his task to his last breath. If it happens to fail in his mission, he was fated to die. Moreover, if he happened to die, then he died happy to have served his master.
A single ideal can, according to circumstances, take the form of an inevitable battle with the high stake of an outcome that can keep your value intact: that of serving a purpose that takes the form of a mission according to the character of the duty to a master who behaves like a God.
Leadership: Can you highlight yourself through a reflection of the experience of being a whole and a close union with the hero you represent in an outcome that brings success to a high consciousness?
Nowadays, there are no samurai, in the true meaning of the word, but there are still countless stories about them. From which we have so much to learn. Like, for example, to display affection towards friends, family, our superiors, towards the institution in which we work, towards the community in which we live. To be loyal and to cooperate in order to achieve the proposed goals enforce our feeling of belonging to a group.
Unlike the loyalty of a samurai towards his master, nowadays the concept of loyalty refers not so much to the devotedness to the leader, but to the attachment to his team of work collective, and the optimal completion of his pursued goals.
Many people have never felt a deep attachment to somebody. They do not know how it feels to help others, they are not determined; they lack the team spirit and the sense of gratitude. There are more and more of those who want to lead, to be under the spotlight. And they hate any kind of restraint. They try to skip some very important stages, in default of which the ascent to the top is impossible.
I believe each of us must, firstly, learn how to integrate adequately into a collective, to cooperate and become efficient, and only after that to aspire to uplift the professional hierarchy. They will learn to respect their commitments only guided by the need of being attached to a collective.
A worthy leader promotes the development of good fellowship relations and encourages people to cooperate efficiently. The most precious attribute of the people that he leads must instantly be the loyalty. They must be devoted to him and inspire him trust, displaying courage, no matter the circumstances, and by no means they should not betray, or to move away from him.
A high consciousness manifests itself by strengthening attachment to a past that preserves its prestige, but it has the burden of demonstrating attachment to a philosophy that rests on the spiritual side, the revelation of sacrificial deliverance.
The supreme ideal of a leader is to lead a team of capable people able to manage any kind of situation, ambitious, qualified, responsible, loyal and very devoted.
Unfortunately, the supreme ideal is very hard to achieve because between people, even excellent professionals, the relationships are developing in time, as well as the feelings, and are based on a great knowledge. A great leader should be the binder in a team, for it to be as good as possible.
However, if there is no samurai and the appropriate education of a samurai, and even if it is very hard to achieve, a leader will always hope to have by his side very loyal people who would help him reach his goals, to the benefit of everybody. This would be the supreme ideal.
Strengthen people's sense of belonging to the team by cultivating their faith in the virtues that you appreciate the most. Virtues such as loyalty, honor, patience, discipline, courtesy and courage - in order to achieve the proposed goal.
