7 Steps to Creating Your Warrior Ethos

As a Professor of Leadership and Business Coach, I teach my students and clients to create personal mission/vision/values statements as part of their personal strategic planning. For myself, the most important aspect of these three is your core values. What are your core values and are you living them on a daily basis?

Your core values are your compass, your true north, your non-negotiables. This is your line in the sand you will not cross. Your core values guide you in making difficult decisions. Without well defined and written core values, we may get lost in your journey. If you don’t live your core values, you may end up with a life of success, but not fulfillment.

Success without fulfillment is the ultimate failure. ~Tony Robbins

Warrior Leadership

I teach what I call Warrior Leadership. My leadership style has been greatly influenced by my study of the US Navy SEAL’s, Sioux warriors like Crazy Horse, the martial arts and even my athletic background.

The leadership concept I borrow is that of the ancient Chinese martial arts philosophy of the “peaceful warrior.” They believed, it is far better to be a warrior tending his/her garden rather than a gardener at war.

My definition of “Warrior”

A person who shows or has shown great vigor, courage, or aggressiveness, in Leadership.

In the excellent book about Leadership, “First, Fast, Fearless” by Navy SEAL Ed Hines, he talks about the SEAL ethos and how it is vital to how the SEAL’s conduct themselves. It is essentially a highly evolved set of shared values. Their ethos is a powerful read if you have a minute.

If it works for the SEAL’s, I thought why not create my own personal “Warrior Ethos” to guide me in my journey.

To create your own Warrior Ethos, these are the 7 steps I recommend

1. Define your “one word” core values. Pick out 10–15 that resonate with you.
2. Rank your core values by order of importance.
3. Narrow your choices to your top 8.
4. Take each value and put it into a positive, action oriented sentence or two. Be inspirational and creative. This should get your fired up when you read it.
5. Now take this collection of sentences and create your Warrior Ethos.
6. I find it helpful to highlight (bold and underline) your core values, so they are easily seen with a quick glance.
7. Print your Ethos, maybe even laminate it, and place it in your office so it is front and center everyday. This is your guide to a powerful life.

Here is mine as an example to follow,

Core Values

1. Improve
2. Adventure
3. Kindness
4. Integrity
5. Transparent
6. Excellence
7. Persistence
8. Influence

My Warrior Ethos

Every day I will strive to improve something about myself and challenge the status quo. I will practice continuous and never ending improvement. Learning from mistakes and failure are the stepping stones for my climb.

I will seek out adventure and take risks, not settling for the ease of the mundane and the safety of my comfort zone. I will create rich stories.

I will be kind in all interactions with others. Achieving success with kindness is my aspiration.

My integrity is the backbone of my personal brand, without it, I am nothing. I will be ethical and moral in my dealings.

I will strive to be transparent and authentic in all interactions and how I present myself to the world.

Mediocrity will have no home to roost in my life. I will vigorously pursue excellence in all matters where being world-class is paramount to my mission.

I will be persistent in my journey, if it continues to serve my mission. I will not quit the fight, no matter the difficulty of the obstacles in my path.

I will seek out opportunities to utilize my unique talents, gifts and life experience to give back, to teach and to influence. I will do everything I can to create a better future for the world, impacting one life at a time, through Leadership development. My legacy will be creating positive change.

I encourage you to spend some time to create a “Warrior Ethos” for yourself or your corporation. Its actually a fun and empowering exercise. It is a great first step to living a life of fulfillment, with no regrets when the end comes. Be a warrior!

About the Author:

Ron Duren is the Business Wingman. He is a Certified FocalPoint Business Coach, Leadership Consultant and Professor of Leadership and Management at the University of Colorado. He is a Project Management Professional (PMP), graduate of Seth Godin’s altMBA program and holds a Masters Degree in Engineering Management. He is a former semi-professional baseball player and rodeo cowboy. Ron built and flies his award winning aerobatic airplane as much as he can. Subscribe to his newsletter for pragmatic business and leadership articles delivered monthly.