Work hard in silence and let your success make the noise.
Across my time and through the many years I have practiced martial arts, in particular Jiu Jitsu, I have come across many resources that have provided their own value and inspiration in equal measure. However, as with most things, any subsequently available material doesn’t entirely satisfy and its monotonous, recycled nature often inhibits any actual progress. With that, much of the motivation I find nowadays comes from resources that are far removed, at least at first glance, from Jiu Jitsu.
Adapting methods of ‘Thin Slicing’ to coaching instigated by Malcolm Gladwell, dissecting my own rounds of sparring; ‘Black Box’ style from Matthew Syed and even some ‘Blue Ocean’ ideas when looking at alternative and substitute submissions for new game plans by way of W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne – all have worked well and kept my Jiu Jitsu enjoyable.
Jim Collins
Another creative source of late and one that has transformed how I look at my Jiu Jitsu is via an author named Jim Collins. He is one such individual who’s work I have used to search for ways to extrapolate betterment away from the mats or to find that extra something when indeed on the mats.
As a revered business author, Jim Collins has nothing to do with Jiu Jitsu and perhaps the closest he comes to elite sporting performance is the fact he is married to Joanne Ernst, a former Ironman Triathlon Champion. Collins has spent decades researching high level performance in the boardroom, the performance of ‘visionary companies’ and what he doesn’t know about companies such as Ford, Marriot, 3M, Motorola, Walmart, Proctor & Gamble and Sony is not worth knowing about.
Through his research, Collins has provided some seminal work, but arguably his best book is Good to Great. I have read it many times and get something new from it each and every time, as I’ve mentioned, often the most valuable parts are relatable to things outside of business and very much so to self-improvement, more specifically, improvement in my Jiu Jitsu.
Level-5 Leadership
According to Jim Collin’s, every ‘Good to Great’ company is steered by a Level-5 Leader at its helm. From the bottom up and progressing, each starts with the Highly Capable Individual, a Contributing Team Member and further to a Competent Manager, each level holds its own roles and responsibilities implementing the aims and objectives of the organisation.
Every level delivers forward, furthers a culture that everyone buys into and ultimately triumphs.
At the head of every workforce is the Effective Leader, able to create an environment of team commitment pursuing a vision through a high-performance environment – this is where most leaders and companies stop: only a select few go on to be considered a Level-5 Leader – a Great Leader.
I’ll stop here for a moment and substitute a Great ‘Leader’ for a Great ‘Performer’. More specifically, a great Jiu Jitsoka.
Level-5 Jiu Jitsu
How you define ‘Great’ is entirely up to you, measure it through competition success, relative or comparable belt level, teaching ability/conversion, even through technical capability or consistency when considering age or any other limitation.
A great Jiu Jitsoka has the abilities of every other individual along the scheme of hierarchy but in addition, a unique combination of will, introspection, drive and humility – it is this combination that makes them and everything they touch exceptional.
It is these traits, these facets and how you seek to develop them that will take your Jiu Jitsu from Good to Great or at least closer to its fullest potential.
Level-5 leaders exude ambition, ambition centred on the organization (their goal) not themselves, they are modest yet fanatically driven to produce exceptional results over the long term. Content with assuming blame when things go wrong, they also understand that greatness comes from quiet, prolonged hard-work.
Not too different to a Level-5 Jiu Jitsoka then.
So how does this relate to you and your Jiu Jitsu?
How can you take the above idea forward and utilise it for the betterment of your Jiu Jitsu?
Let’s think of this ‘Leadership’ analogy as your ability to lead your own development. This concept is all about mindset. In which direction is your mindset ‘leading’ your Jiu Jitsu?
Are you quietly humble with committed ambition and is your success based on an innate desire to get better? Does this improvement transcend your ego?
The Characteristics
Jim Collins offers the following characteristics when describing ‘Level-5’ leaders and I have attempted to offer examples within each for you to think about in improving your Jiu Jitsu.
Ambitiousness.
What are you trying to achieve through Jiu Jitsu?
Who are you trying to transform, inspire, motivate or empower?
Where do envisage your Jiu Jitsu taking you?
What are your goals?
How are measuring these goals?
Have you rated your Jiu Jitsu?
Fanatical commitment.
How committed are you to your goals?
What are you sacrificing in pursuit of goals?
If your training time is limited, how are you maximising its potential?
Introspection.
Do you take ownership for errors, losses, mistakes and shortfalls?
How well do you frame errors, losses, mistakes and shortfalls?
How consistently buoyant are you from session to session?
Self-effacing.
What are you attributing to any success?
Is there an element of modesty and reticence to your success?
Consistency.
Are all of the above recurring traits of your personality?
At first glance, it’s difficult to attribute a leadership concept to Jiu Jitsu, leadership usually involves a team. However, when you stop and understand that accountability and ownership are methods by which we ‘lead’ our behaviour you can begin to understand how the aspects of ambition, commitment, introspection, humility and consistency are traits that lend themselves perfectly to Jiu Jitsu greatness and if not ‘greatness’, better than you were.
Now go develop your Level-5 mindset.
Level-5 Networks
Once you have understood and developed your ‘Level-5 mindset’ it’s time to incorporate Collins’ next finding – “First Who, then What”.
Advancing the concept that if you are to secure high-quality, then you must surround yourself with a group of equals pushing toward a common goal. Under this model surround yourself with people who can help you realize your specific vision.
Training partners.
Other individuals with the same traits, facets and mindset as you that you are then able to work with, drill with, learn and progress with.
People you trust, those that will push you, support you and hold you accountable.
Now go assemble your Level-5 team.