Rule of two

I'm a Star Wars geek. You have to believe it. Otherwise, I shall find it disturbing enough to send you a remote-controlled choke hold.

But on a more serious note, most of us who have been alive long enough to have watched everything, either on film or home video, remember the characters and the lightsabers they wielded well enough. But the entire story of Star Wars isn't necessarily told in both the Trilogies only. There are other canons that are so significant in volume, the Star Wars expanded universe is easily one of the largest collections of galactic lore to be found anywhere. But no worries. We're not about to talk about Star Wars for hours on end. Well, just a bit.

"I find your lack of faith disturbing." -Darth Vader

Allow me to write about one Star Wars tenet that relates to things more important: Rule of Two. In the saga, the Rule of Two is a principle held by the Sith Lords which states that, at any given time, there shall only be two Sith in the whole galaxy--a master and an apprentice. Its creation, as instituted by Darth Bane, was an act to control unnecessary infighting among the brethren. (Well, part of the problem was that the Sith race are power-hungry by default.) Included in the rule is how the power transfer (also called succession plan in organizational dynamics) works by original design, which I must say is the coolest part of the lore. To be worthy of the title of Master, the apprentice must take the life of the former. The new master, in turn, must find a new student to repeat the process. Talk about a vicious cycle--the practice survived a thousand years.

Now to my point (yes, my introductions keep getting longer and longer, but hopefully not to your dismay).

As business organizations grow and mature into an industrial force, it becomes truly essential to have a leadership program that is fully supported by the business. We all know that a leader is a leader not because he is given the role to lead. On the contrary, a leader earns the role. In most respects even, this is earned everyday. There's also the fact that a good leader is (and should be) a good mentor, one who understands what it means to be a true role model, or better yet, one who is in a position to introduce significant change in a person's life forever.

A couple of days ago, we began putting together a mentoring program aimed at our leaders. The objective is to ensure that the individual expertise and experiences of our senior leads and managers are shared with everyone, particularly those whom we feel have what it takes to be a leader in the not so distant future. We've devised that the mentor must have a goal in the exercise, particularly on what he/she would like to have the protege learn, build or overcome during the period. We've agreed that the best way to do it is to have regular face time with their chosen telemachuses (another word for protege, from the name Telemachus, son of Odysseus, mentored by Mentor, and the origin of the word) and to talk more about personal principles alongside organizational interests. The program is our way of readying the persons we expect to step up, and perform what's necessary, when the circumstance shows itself. But more than that is a vital element of our everyday labors: push people growth.

Our own version of Rule of Two means that there are only two people in a mentoring relationship, a mentor and a protege (which unlike the Sith, we can have as many mentoring relationships existing simultaneously as necessary). Either the mentor chooses the protege or the protege chooses the mentor, we maintain the freedom--not counting the cool mysticism--akin to how Lucas penned it: finding someone is "the will of the Force."

We have to find ourselves in a position to "bring balance" and "restore order" in favor of the people we serve. The takeaway I want to make is that leaders do not necessarily need to inspire their subordinates all the time. Leaders need only show the way. From there, it is through our commitment to grow them that they begin to understand their ability to inspire others, including their own leaders. So that when the time comes, an apprentice who is ready will have the courage to eliminate his master. Wait, strike that. Again! So that when the time comes, an apprentice who is ready will be better equipped to handle all challenges--and opportunities--that lay ahead.

And as mentors, we never cease to learn "the way of the Force." Everyone never ceases learning. Everyone is a student.