Do you want to work at a company that just does well? Or do you want to be a part of an empire that thrives and prospers for generations?
Every great empire has a code, and every great leader has virtues that helped them grow their empire. Whatever your code is, it’s either consciously or unconsciously helping you take your company and turn it into a time-honored empire. And there is no code that provides the sort of long-term, lasting power as the samurai code of Bushido.
Just a few decades after Japan’s warrior class was abolished, U.S. President Teddy Roosevelt raved about a newly released book entitled Bushido: The Soul of Japan. Author Nitobe Inazo said the samurai code of behavior was basically how chivalrous people should act in their personal and professional lives.
Within this code, there are seven virtues that people followed in order to level-up their lives. I know that these virtues will change your life, because they’ve certainly changed mine. They will allow you to unleash a better version of yourself, both professionally and personally, and they’ll give you a roadmap to create the sort of organization that changes the world.
The power of behaving honorably
The first virtue of the code is rectitude, the backbone of all bushido.
Rectitude is the power to decide on a course of action without wavering, or as the Bushido Code reads, “to die when to die is right, to strike when to strike is right.” In other words, to behave honorably. Rectitude is knowing the difference between right and wrong, and choosing to stay on the right path that leads you towards success.
Living your life with rectitude is crucial to anyone who holds respect, trust, and value. People who don’t put value in having honor are people I avoid like the plague. The greatest skill you can have as a friend, a spouse, a coworker, or a leader is rectitude. Living on this path is a key factor in building a lasting empire.
I travel all the time speaking at conferences and seminars. If I didn’t demonstrate rectitude every single day to my team, my company would literally unravel at the seams. Not only do I need to trust in my team to accomplish what they need to get done while I’m gone, but they need to trust in me that I’m acting honorably for the company everywhere I go. They need to trust that I’m always working hard not only for myself, but for them as well.
Something truly special about FPG is that whenever I leave, my team proves to me that they can always hold down the fort. This is the reason that FPG has appeared on the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing companies for three years in a row. I can always trust my team to do their jobs well, and they can always trust me to do mine. The fact that we have this beneficial give-and-take on rectitude has quite literally propelled our success forward.
I want you to take a moment and reflect on the most important areas of your life and imagine what they would look like without rectitude. How would you behave? Who would be affected? Where would you be? In what ways would your life change?
Rectitude is the cornerstone of a well-run company and a well-run life. It affects every single part of your life. And being trusted by others is one of the things you need in order to live a life full of success.
The psychology of honor
Your brain is naturally hardwired to trust. There’s a part of our brain responsible for pleasure that lights up when we feel trust. In one study, researchers concluded that we don’t trust people because it’s some universal moral force. We trust people because it rewards our brain’s pleasure-seeking centers. Our brain simply likes getting that oxytocin-laced high. It’s easy to trust, but it’s also easy to take advantage of trust. This is why it is vital that a growing an empire thinks, behaves, and revolves around rectitude.
I know that you’re someone who knows right from wrong. Don’t steal. Don’t cheat. Don’t lie. Those are all part of a very basic moral compass; the tricky part are the gray areas. When I hire a new employee, I give them my full trust right away so that they can put the same trust in me. However, I know that when my gut feeling tells me something is wrong, I must follow it. It only takes one bad apple to spoil the bunch. So when something doesn’t feel right, you need to trust that instinct and replant the roots for rectitude.
You may have to tell an employee something they don’t want to hear, but they need to hear it in order to improve. Most people want to know the truth, even when hearing it is hard. In fact, one of the widespread complaints employees have about their managers is that they don’t tell the truth when they need to. Even when they don’t like hearing it at the moment, they usually wind up being grateful for it, as long as it was expressed respectfully.
You might be thinking that you don’t need to work on rectitude because it’s something you naturally have. One thing I want you to remember is rectitude is intentional, and it is profitable. So unless your profit is exactly where you want it to be forever, doing more to intentionally create a rectitude-driven life will only increase your profitability.
Focus on rectitude, and you’ll have an empire of long-lasting success.
