Using the Intention to Serve to be a Great Leader
You don’t have to work on leadership. What you work on is your spiritual intent. Not in religious terms, I’m not telling people what religion to believe. The basis of a plant, whether it is going to live or die, is in the roots. When you see a great leader, what you see on the outside is merely a reflection of what’s on in the inside in terms of their beliefs and spiritual intent.
All of us start with a fundamental look at life, which is egocentric. This is rampant in the martial arts industry, because we attract people who want to conquer and overcome. Egocentric means you focus on yourself more than on others. It is about meeting your own needs first. Every human being is wired that way at birth.
Eventually most of us grow out of egocentrism and into ethnocentrism. That means that to survive, learn to take care of other people. Ethnocentrism means “our central group.” Maybe it’s our family, or, maybe it’s the kids on the street. We know they have the ability to give us pain or pleasure, so we have to take care of them. By necessity, most people become ethnocentric. They care about their group or their little dojo, or their martial arts approach as opposed to any other martial arts approach.
The level above that is world-centric, and very few people get there. World-centric is when you start caring about everybody, whether they affect you directly or not. You care about whites even though you are black, or you care about blacks even though you are white. You don’t care about them because they have the ability to give you pain or pleasure, but because you feel a connection to all that is.
There is a final level above that. It is spirit-centric where you feel you are part of the Universe. Everything is connected to you.
If your intent is to only meet your needs, it’s egocentric. As the head of the dojo, very little power will move toward you, because power moves to those who are serving at the highest level. If your intent is to serve a small ethnocentric group, you will receive much more power than just trying to serve yourself. If your intent is to serve the whole world, you will have power, a flow of ideas, a level of physical energy, emotion and spirit, because spirit moves the most toward that which serves the most. If you are spirit-centric, you will not only be a great martial artist, but you will have no difficulty in attracting people. People will come to you.
My center of gravity is more world-centric. I feel people. That’s why I’ve served millions of them. The ideas come through me. I know things. Just like in the ring you know your opponent; you know where their next move is coming from before they even think it. All great martial artists have had those moments. You can feel every moment in your life when you’re looking to serve at a high level.
You don’t have to work on your leadership skills as much as you do your spiritual intent. If your intent is high, you will seek out masters in the area of leadership. That’s what I’ve done throughout my life, and that is why I have those skills as well. But more important than skill is the power that will move toward you when you make the decision to serve.
