Becoming Napoleon And Buddha: The Untold Secrets To Leading Your Business Empire

One was born on the rugged coastline of the tiny Mediterranean island of Corsica.

The other was raised in a palace, within the ancient Napalese city of Kapilavastu.

Both were leaders of men.

And they harbored an unmatched understanding of things. This made them legends.

I will confess with complete honesty that for much of my life, I’ve been dismayed. I’ve had questions about many things. There is much I’ve wanted to know.

The things I’ve wanted to know were not facts and figures and how-to’s and lists that are top-of-mind in popular magazines and thus easily spewed into public consciousness like multi-colored balls of candy in a quarter-slot dispenser.

I wanted to know the truths of life. And all I could find were trite aphorisms.

I remember being told a story by a restaurateur. He had taken his clients out for dinner in an Indian restaurant. They ordered tandoori chicken. And when the waiter brought out the tandoori chicken, the restaurateur, having a keen and experienced eye, noticed immediately that this was left-over chicken. It was the pieces that they would put out in a buffet.

So he took the waiter aside and said, “Please don’t bring us this rubbish. These are important clients. This is the chicken that you put out in your buffet. Give us the fresh and real stuff. Don’t worry. If you give them the real thing, they are willing to pay handsomely for it.”

Is it not the same with everything? Not the least of which is “business advice?”

I’ll demonstrate in real time what exactly I mean. I’ll leave you for a moment and Google “how to become a great leader” and I’ll tell you what the experts have written. Be back in a few minutes.

Okay. The following is the advice that is so highly respected that it is at the very top of the first page of Google. These are not ads. These are from the pages of the top sites and business magazines available. Here are the entries that have published in expensive magazines with circulations in the 6 or 7 figures. This is the information currently available for consumption by modern man:

These lists and recommendations by the “business experts” are essentially repeated again and again so completely, they all might has well have been written by the same person.

In fact, it seems to me that the articles in all the magazines and the websites are more about who publishes them and what name is written in the byline, than it is about the actual content of the article.

In fact, just take a dumpster and drop all of this advice into it. Then put a sign on the dumpster which says,

“This is all we have. It doesn’t matter who wrote it. It doesn’t matter who published it. It’s all the same information. The only thing that differs is the advertisements that punctuate the articles in this magazine. The articles themselves are full of advice you’ve already heard and recommendations which are so impotent that they give true meaning to the phrase “throw-away journal.”

Here are some of the regurgitated and recycled recommendations by the business experts who publish 1,000 new business books per day!

And here is the best that they have to offer:

Listen to your team, communicate as efficiently as possible, be an example, be passionate, be consistent, make firm decisions, identify mentors and role models, interfere only when necessary, know your limits, know your strengths, know your weaknesses, don’t make excuses, do good, meet new people, temper your reactions, and have fun . . .

I must stop there. If any of you received anything meaningful and life-changing in these words, I wish you all the best.

It almost seems as if modern business publishing is lost in a frenetic attempt at reaching a Guinness record for the number of words it can publish. Volume is all that seems to matter, so churn away.

The genius of a Napoleon . . .

The wisdom of a Buddha . . .

The control of the empire that you built with your own two hands . . .

Such things are sacred. Are they not?

That is, if you are cut out of the cloth of a Buddha or a Napoleon.

That is, if your ideals are uncompromising.

That is, if your eyes have an incurable habit of wandering the mystery of the heavens, rather than the well-paved streets lined with common people selling common things.

That is, if yours is a life that you’ve always suspected (though you never told anyone) was destined for a seat with the Gods, rather than a seat in a cubicle.

I have no interest in convincing or motivating anyone.

I will only say that if your heart tells you that you are one of these rare humans who roams the Earth, then walk with me.

To lead your empire, you must understand human beings.

They are not who you’ve been told they are.

And never are they who they tell you they are.

For man does not know what he wants. He knows not how he is best inspired, motivated, or governed. For he knows not who he fundamentally is.

You have built your empire with the blood which flows from your veins.

Should you not have as deep an understanding of the humans you choose to populate its floors?

I will Not tell you what it is you should “do.” Rather I will relate to you who precisely you are dealing with in these human beings.

As you see these human beings who come to do Your work . .

Who come to make reality out of your most precious imaginings . . .

Do not be swayed by what they say or how they look.

For it is all a clever cloak.

You need only understand the heart which beats within them. And the mind which mercilessly rules them.

Getting Workers To Work

If you wish to get them to do something, you must provide for them a vision. Chores will require only their fingers. For a vision, they will have to recruit their heart. And although this vision will be outlined by you, allow Them to fill in the colors.

Why?

Because while man may “labor” for another’s vision, he will bleed only for his Own.

Though the vision is yours, you must make him feel as if it is his.

If You Seek To Be Loved

If you seek to be loved, you must understand something, and understand it readily. The need to be loved is a subtle clarion call to which man is hyper-attuned. He can detect the faintest signal amidst a thousand tornadoes.

Understand, my friend, that this empire will not make you whole. You must arrive whole.

One of the strategic ironies of life is that the person who seeks to be loved rarely is. And the one who cares not in the least about being loved may well become loved.

The one who cares for it never receives it. The one who cares for it not receives it by the handful. And lest you attempt to be clever by pretending not to care for it in hopes that you will receive it, the lightning bolts of the earth will come crashing down upon you.

For nature is wiser than you think.

To Be A Leader Of Men

The one who seeks to be a leader is the one who is essentially seeking to be loved. The word “leader” is a socially acceptable mask that he wears.

A true leader does not seek to lead.

Then why do men follow him?

Because they have no choice!

For it is not a conscious decision for them. There is something inside of this unwilling leader that attracts them so powerfully, they are helpless under its spell.

The man who becomes a leader is not in love with leading. He is simply given to an uncompromising vision. He does not negotiate. He is not interested in pleasing.

Why?

Because like the men who are powerless in his presence, he is powerless in the presence of his vision.

On Controlling Your Army

Do not befriend them. For friendship is rarely valued. Rather, it is exploited.

The truth is that your army is desperate to be controlled. Not by petty rules such as bathroom breaks and working hours. But by the power of your vision. And the nature of your stand.

Most men have no powerful destination. And if you provide them with one, they will follow you. Not because you say so. But because of the incredible destination that you’ve painted before their eyes.

Your army must see in You what they’ve always longed to see in themselves.

Understand, my friend, that man is hungry for a journey more than he is hungry for a job.

He will appease you if you feed his stomach. But he will walk with you to the end of the earth if you feed his soul.

The Most Important Secret Of All

And now we come to the most important secret.

Napoleon paid a price.

Buddha did as well.

There is always a price. Some consider this price a penance. Others consider it a noble cost.

Shall I reveal it to you?

In order to become a Napoleon and a Buddha . . .

In order to control and navigate the whole of your empire . . .

You will have to conquer your greatest foe.

In order to be presented the amulet by the Gods . . .

You will have to become worthy of its receipt.

And the absolute and undeniable truth is that you have never in your life been far from achieving it.

You hear thoughts endlessly in your head all day. And just on the other side of those thoughts is the path to your Freedom.

Slowly, carefully, and strategically, we will tease away the sinews and vines that keep you tethered to your destructive mind.

For it is bound by you. And you are bound by it.

And as we delicately separate the fibers of the mind from the fibers of your glorious humanity, both of you will become free.

And the dirt road to the ancient kingdom will reveal itself to you.

And you too will walk the very same path Napoleon, Buddha, and the legends of yore have roamed for centuries.

And once you do, they will open their arms to welcome you to the place reserved for those rarest few who roam the earth.