Welcome back to Little Leadership Lessons, my newsletter highlighting short but powerful insights to help you lead with confidence and create lasting results. These lessons come directly from my research, interviews, and coaching work with six- and seven-figure creator-founders.
I’m back with another edition of the newsletter, this week on the unfathomable complexity of swords… which is a metaphor for the unfathomable delight of learning something in depth.
I hope you and yours have had a wonderful April full of new possibilities.
Let’s get to it.
A Beautiful Photo of Nature
And an accompanying poem:
Everything is Waiting for You by David Whyte
Little Leadership Lesson: Do you have a definition of enough?
Do not think that
This is all there is.
More and more
Wonderful teachings exist –
The sword is unfathomable.
– Japanese swordmaster Yamaoka Tesshu as quoted by George Leonard in Mastery
My Take on Unfathomable Swords
What is the topic, field of study, or area of expertise your friends would most associate with you? What is the topic you’re so into that you’re a little bit ashamed for your friends to know how deep you’ve gone?
If you don’t have an answer to those questions, then this week’s topic might seem a bit distant to you. But if an answer immediately came to mind, then you almost certainly understood this week’s quote.
The deeper you go on a topic, the more there is to learn. Whether the topic is conversion copywriting, psychology, or the history of war – the depths of knowledge available are indeed unfathomable.
There are only two responses to this:
- Becoming depressed at the reality you’ll never know it all
- Becoming enthralled at the joy of never having to reach the bottom of the well
There’s an old adage that the more you learn, the less you know. Rather than answers, learning raises additional questions.
As an entrepreneur or leader, your job is to find a field where you delight in the bottomless well of knowledge. Or, alternatively, to fall in love with the topic of leadership itself. The well is truly bottomless when it comes to leading other human beings towards worthy pursuits.
In one passage in Mastery, George Leonard describes two Karate black belts who transition into Aikido classes.
One has hubris, assumes he knows the essence of the art form, and it shows in his rigidity on the mat. His pride will not allow him to let go of his status in Karate long enough to truly learn Aikido.
The second has a quiet confidence, but assumes nothing. He starts from the beginning and respects the basics. He later impresses the entire class by demonstrating his mastery of Karate movements.
It is the second who learns the new form faster and with more grace.
Leonard captures the lesson’s application with the following:
“The beginner who stands on his or her dignity becomes rigid, armored – the learning can’t get through.”
Just because you have expertise in a related field does not mean you get to skip being a beginner. And so from the beginning of your journey to the end of your life there is the same reality: the sword is unfathomable (but you must fall in love with that reality in order to realize the value of it).
In reflecting on the two Karate black belts, Leonard closes out the related chapter with this:
“Perhaps the best you can hope for on the master’s journey – whether your art be management or marriage, badminton or ballet – is to cultivate the mind and heart of the beginning at every stage alone the way. For the master, surrender means there are no experts. There are only learners.”
You can choose for this to be depressing or you can choose for this to be delightful. I believe the latter is what leads to exceptional results over time.
Questions to Apply This to Your Life
- What area or areas of learning have most fascinated you throughout your life?
- When you reach a point at which it begins to feel like you “know everything” there is to know about a topic, how do you respond?
- When you “learn” something… do you also put it into practice? If not, what would it take to start turning learning into habitual practice?
What’s Up With the Podcast, B?
Thank you to all of you who have kindly reached out about the podcast. We are deep in the throes of a rebrand and reboot of the project. It will come back soon under the banner of:
Good Work: The Inner Journey of Outward Success with Barrett Brooks
I’ve been recording consistently, with a stellar lineup of guests ready to be released upon return. Two dear friends and former guests have also interviewed me to help me tell my story as a part of the comeback series.
We’re probably another month out from getting the show back in your hands. But when we do, it will be better than ever. In the meantime, it’s possible I’ll be dropping into your feeds with some behind-the-scenes content.
As always, I’m grateful for you. Thanks for being here.
Much love and respect,
P.S.: I joined Mighty Networks for their People Magic Summit, where I talked about the psychology of entrepreneurship… or what I’ve learned about it from coaching seven-figure creators. You can watch the replay here if you’re interested.