5 Leadership Lessons From Star Wars

Star Wars. Who has not heard of this movie series? Few, if any. It has been a great source of entertainment and frustration. A beautifully crafted story. One that provides five great leadership lessons from a galaxy far, far away.

1. Guard your thoughts

In the Star Wars universe, there is a light side and a dark side. What leads to the dark side?

As Yoda would say:

“Anger, fear and aggression. The dark sides of the force are they.”

These three elements come from your thoughts. In Star Wars, this would lead to the dark side.

In your life, these will lead to frustration and failure. Continuously guard your mind against these thoughts.

2. Good leaders can go bad

We find that Darth Vader was not always evil. He once was a young boy who had great potential. During the prequels, we see that he had the potential to be a great leader.

Slowly we see his great skills used more and more with evil intent. The change from the light side of the force to the dark side did not happen overnight. It was a slow turn.

Be vigilant in your leadership and make sure the choices you are making will benefit others. Do not let your leadership skills lead you to the dark side.

3. ‘Do or do not, there is no try’

We hear Yoda tells this to Luke Skywalker when he was trying to raise his spaceship from the swamp. Luke was frustrated and tired. He had tried to use the force to raise his ship and was unable to do so.

That was when Yoda told him to either do it or not. Trying does not matter. Stop using “trying” as an excuse.

By saying you will “try” to do something, you are already limiting yourself. You have given yourself an escape. You can say: “I tried it. It did not work.”

Either say you will do the task or you will not. Do not give yourself the easy way out by saying you will try.

4. Put your fear into words

Yoda says:

“Named your fear must be before banish it you can.”

What does this mean to you?

It means you need to be clear on what you fear. Give it a face. Make sure you know exactly what it is. With what you fear clearly defined, you can step forward and conquer it.

5. Have a bigger cause

Luke was just a farm boy. Han Solo was just a smuggler. Yet throughout the movie, you see them become more than just a farm boy or a smuggler.

Luke and Han could have denied the bigger cause. They could have turned away and let the alliance fight the Empire without their help. They could have let their needs and desires lead them elsewhere.

But no, they stepped up and fought for a bigger cause. They became heroes. They saved the galaxy. They defeated evil.

You must have a bigger cause. Without it, your skills will not be fully utilised.

Now your turn. Have you defined your bigger cause? What is it?