Pulling rank or Pulling your weight

If you have to pull rank to get your way, maybe your way isn't all that great.  If the only leg you have to stand on is the fact that you are the Master / Sensei / Sifu / whatever, then maybe you should reevaluate your position.

Leadership should make sense, and rules should have some basis in logic.  Instructors who run their academies by brute force are the lowest type of fake leaders I know.  Insisting on being obeyed, regardless of the validity of one's position, shows weakness rather than strength.

Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee 2011

I am blessed to be part of the Jhoon Rhee International organization.  Every year I am amazed by the example that is set by Grandmaster Jhoon Rhee.  Quite honestly, it's hard to live up to.

That pedestal is not for you

Photo by: vichie81

It's so easy in our field to become a dictator.  After all, we are the keepers of our tradition, of our standards and we hold the key to belt promotions.  We are the heads of our schools and people come to us actually believing that we have knowledge and character beyond the typical person.  With all that adoration and respect (which we demand anyway, in the name of discipline), how do we NOT get a fat head?

In martial arts, you hear so much about the importance of being humble and I agree that it is one of the top traits in a great instructor or leader.  But how do you know when you are being humble?  What does it look like?  And when is someone just faking it for the sake of reputation?  Humble is a full time job, and doesn't stop when class is dismissed.

Focus on the joy, forget about the junk

It would be easy to make an entire website full of posts about the problems that arise in a martial arts academy (or any small business for that matter), but that wouldn't give a true picture of how we owner/operator types spend our time.  I've compiled some mostly-accurate, fully-unsubstantiated statistics about how things really are.  Understand that these are ratios only, and can be extrapolated to encompass larger, multi-site operations.  Enjoy:

-For every grumpy-butt who complains, there are 22 people who want you to keep doing exactly what you do, 9 who absolutely adore you as a person, 17 would wish they had your life, and 3 who think you're hot.