Pick a Fight

I’m not a fighter.

I was in one fight in my life and I lost … soundly.

It was in middle school.

And I got a black eye and all.

Lesson learned.

I am a Typer, not a Fighter.

These hands are delicate!

So I vowed never to fight again or if I have to, to do everything possible to win, including cheating, scratching, kicking, biting, whatever it took not to lose ever again.

Someone told me, “Fighting’s not fair. So don’t fight fair.”

But I digress …

As a leader and entrepreneur, I was reminded this morning:

Sometimes you gotta pick a fight with a bully.

In fact, I’ll go as far to say … if you really wanna lead your people? If you really wanna inspire your people?

Pick fights with THEIR bullies.

Now, before I go on …. here’s what I DON’T mean by this.

I don’t mean picking fight with actual individuals, or even groups of people.
And I don’t condone violence.

But their mindsets, their misguided, out of date beliefs, their actions?

Those are fair game.

I like these kinds of bullies and villains. Every good story needs one.

But I like them to be more abstract and more mythical.

And as such, I want to destroy them. Forever.

They need to be the scary dragon. The ogres. Or just the shadows and darkness.

Those mythical creatures and villains are all the big things in the way of your people, on the way to their mountaintops.

Your people are on a journey toward their hopes, dreams, goals, aspirations.

You want to show them a better future, together. A better way, a better path.

And you stand ready to help lead them to it.

But there are obstacles in the way. These are the mythical villains.

And some of the best villains I’ve fought for my people come from the beast of FEAR.

These villains hold us back. They keep us from something better.

Here are some villains I fight ….

• The roller coaster of entrepreneurship
• The silencing stigma of mental health
• The self-limiting internal beliefs that keep our art in the dark

I’ll go round and round with these villains. All day, every day.

I chip at them. I take cheap shots at them. I find my openings to knock their feet out from them, or take away their fire. I talk a lot of trash about them and try to demoralize them. I show how they are vapor and worthless.

I mock and laugh at them. I engage the propaganda machine against them.

And oh, I never fight fair with them. They are my sworn enemies and worthy of sound defeat. I give no quarter to them.

I bully them right back.

... because they hold my people back.

Whatever helps my people win their battles.

What’s in the way of your people?

What Dragon breathes scorching fire and brimstone and keeps your people scared and small and scared and stalled?

What if you just sauntered up to it, with your Avengers standing alongside you, and your people watching on from their caves, and said:

“BOO!”