While this blog is about Business for Ninjas, the real message is that you can be a Ninja in all areas of your life.

The Ninja concept is still in its infancy for me. I began advising friends to go into situations like Ninjas only about a year ago. I was attempting to correct the arguing technique of a friend. And what I said to him was something like, “if you keep taking everything personally and responding out of reflex instead of intention, you’re going to end up hurting both of us. It’s like someone who responds to a potential fight with panic and flailing. He’s liable to escalate things unnecessarily and unlikely to adequately defend himself in the process. But if you were a Ninja going into a fight, you could take a deep breath and try to see the situation clearly and see which actions are truly called for.”

Once I had articulated that thought, I began to see it as a theme everywhere in my life. I saw its threads running through how I mothered my children, how I dealt with angry customers at work, how I handled arguments between friends, and even how I ate and how I spent my leisure time. And once I saw that Ninjahood was my goal, I had to refine what I meant by “go in like a Ninja” so that I could determine if I was even beginning to.

I think we have all known both the panic and the Ninja states. I’ve panicked when a supervisor was leveling an accusation at me and threatening my job. As soon as I saw what was going on, my pulse was pounding in my ears and I began shaking, it was all I could do to respond with a level defense. And I’ve known that Ninja state when I was preparing to make a speech, and where I hate public speaking, this time I had done my homework, written a killer speech and rehearsed. So while I was still highly alert and aware of the demands of the situation, I had this solid knot of confidence in my gut that said, “I can do this.”

What I really wanted then, was to have more of the second state and less of the first state in my life. If I could go into every situation alert, but calm and knowing my capabilities, how much better would I aquit myself in every part of my life?

That is what Business for Ninjas is about. It is about my continuing to work at being a Ninja. And it is about wanting that Ninja state for more of you.

My tentative list of what it means to be a Ninja looks something like this:

1. Ninjas live actively instead of passively.
2. Ninjas evaluate a situation, determine the desired outcome and act with intentionality.
3. Ninjas have a sense of peace about who they are. They will not be threatened when someone accuses them of being something they’re not.
4. Ninjas live on their terms instead of waiting for group concensus to validate their aims.
5. Ninjas exude confidence, and that confidence alone helps them excel
6. Ninjas have a responsibility to kick ass, and look good doing it

What do these things have to do with Business? Well, everything really. I read business books that assume entrepreneurs already have lots of that ‘indomitable spirit’ stuff. But around here, let’s assume only that you are or want to be in business. Beyond that, we’ll examine how much Ninja spirit we do have, whether we over or under-value our work, whether we ignore or overreact to customer upset and whether we make business decisions only if they agree with conventional wisdom or make too many risky decisions.

Being a Ninja means you can shed that feeling that you are ‘faking’ being an entrepreneur. It means you can dare to make your business a reflection of you and your values. It means you can live a life and run a business aligned more truly with who you really are and what you’re really passionate about. And that is exactly the kind of business person we need more of.