Shu Ha Ri -A Way to Think About Leading
While drinking a great whiskey with one of my team members at a cool neighborhood spot in Amsterdam (ask me about it if you are going to visit) last night we got into a conversation about how everyone experiences lessons but dont necessarily learn from them. This triggered the memory from another friend of mine who had discussed his embrace of the Shu Ha Ri practice of learning. I have been turning this one around in my brain for a few months and out popped this post.
First- What the heck is Shuhari? In Japanese martial arts it represents the stages of learning needed to achieve mastery of a form. Roughly translated, Shu equates to Obey. Ha is Digress and Ri is to Leave. In simple form a student starts by learning (Obey) from a master. The learning is a learning of the basics of a form or practice. It involves constant repetition until the basics are mastered. Back in the day when I practiced Aikido for a time, most of my time was spent emulating the teacher in forward rolls and reverse rolls and sitting in seiza until it was well somewhat comfortable to do so for long periods of time. After learning of the basic forms a student may then begin practicing modifications (Digress) of those learnings into new forms. This is akin to application of a joint lock in tandem with a roll to bring a larger opponent to the ground. Finally the student develops her own modalities (Leave) that are separate from the teachings of the master. This might be the combination of a tai chi push hands move with a joint lock roll. The student becomes the master at this point in the cycle.
In the startup world this same methodology can be used by Founders and others to transfer knowledge to other team members who do not have the same level of experience in a field. My personal example would be my unique practice of channel management sales that I have improved upon over a number of years and that I am conveying to my current sales team members. The methods by which I engage with partners are very different from traditional channel management. As a result new team members could not clearly understand why I made certain decisions around how to engage with select partners. Once they observed and learned the basics they were able to move forward into Ha. The team I led at AddressDoctor went through all three stages and ultimately those who stayed in technology sale became leaders in their organizations by practicing their own modalities of channel sales. This was actually one of my proudest achievements taking a group of people who knew little about a sector or industry and turning them into leaders in the that area (Kym, Charles, Cagdas, Steffen, Corey Shout Outs here).
Many times I see startups that wade into a sector with no experience or guidance in a sector. My first question is whether the Founders can learn from others quickly (Mentors, Advisors etc). My second question is whether they can then actually convey their knowledge to other team members as they scale. This second step is the true test of whether the Founder can teach and lead which helps to enhance scale over the long term. When entrepreneurs start throwing my lessons back at me either in words or in practice (David/Luke/Hersh…) it tells me they listened learned and are practicing. They have gone through Ha and are in Ri. It also helps me understand the lesson of why there can only be two Sith at any point or as Kate Sacher says to Chuck on Billions “I may come back and bite you one day”.
So the message here is to become aware as you are building your company and your team. Are you teaching your team members and more importantly are they learning the lessons? If they are not learning from the lessons and the experiences then perhaps you need to double down on the teaching or perhaps the student is not yet ready to progress/digress/leave.
Mata Ashita
