To live with Honor, Integrity, Courage: Lessons from the Samurai.

  

So as I was doing my 20 miles on my bike at 530am this morning, I tend to listen to those folks who will inspire me or simply my own music, but this morning I was reviewing the lessons learned from my participation this past weekend in the Samurai Game^®.
The Samurai Game^® is a challenging and psychologically intense simulation game in which participants cross a psychological boundary where they operate under unfamiliar modes of relationship, governance and consequences.

Requiring no special equipment and no advance preparation (other then a willingness to learn), participants in The Samurai Game^® come face to face with their personal integrity, their commitments and habitual ways of dealing with challenges and uncertainty.

Participants in The Samurai Game® find themselves asking…

• When the going gets tough, rules do not easily apply, and the future is unclear—how do I show up as a leader? 
• When distractions are rampant, how do I remain present and focused on what matters most?
• When no one is watching and the consequences are uncertain, do I act with integrity?
• When my team’s integrity is tested to the limits—does it crack or get stronger?
• When I encounter challenges, can I tolerate the discomfort of new learning or do I retreat to the known and familiar?  

The Samurai Game^® allows you to safely cross a border beyond your everyday life, from which you may see yourself, your priorities, your habits with greater clarity. As a simulation game, The Samurai Game^® has rules and consequences, choices and results, risks and rewards–just like life.  But because it’s a simulation, you can make mistakes, explore new ways of being and acting, and learn without all of the risk.  Participants in the Samurai Game^® cultivate awareness, resourcefulness and decisiveness in challenging situations marked by uncertainty, ambiguity and chaos.

The Samurai Game^® involves no significant physical contact.  It simulates the intensity and immediacy of battle, but unfolds within a carefully designed and secure environment, providing participants with countless opportunities for self-reflection and insights that apply to business, government, community and daily life.

Participants in the Samurai Game^® routinely experience…

• The power of team commitment and collaboration
• A new understanding of the value of trust and integrity for leadership performance 
• The difference between “talking the talk” and “walking the walk”
• The power of meeting challenges in a centered and grounded way

I learned so much by observing what it was like to be a team member and reflect to how a member of a team is made to feel.  Everyone on a team is important to the victory in a battle.  Simple things like knowing the names, eye contact, encouragement and valuing all contributions that each warrior contributes.  I went to learn about living, fighting and dying with Honor, Integrity and Courage and came away with countless lessons that I see now each day in all my interactions.  

What a memorable experience.  Search for ways to improve what you do in life.  Seek knowledge, talk to others who have a new and different perspective that you have, to learn.  You never know what it will do for you and can provide you in your future and present moment.

Respectfully,

Coach John Saintignon

www.johnsaintignon.com