I was very fortunate to have learned about things like mission and vision early in my military career. There have been countless books, TED Talks, podcasts and blogs about the importance of mission orientation in business. But its relevance and importance was drilled into me as a 19-year-old “rebel without a clue” during basic training. Of course, I don’t know how it is now, but I assume basic training/boot camp starts with really simple tasks that build on one another. It was difficult for me as a young recruit to understand, at least initially, how mundane skills like making hospital corners on a bed cover or spit shining boots had any relevance to what my job was actually going to entail. That was, until one of the training instructors sat us all down in the day room and explained the importance of details. “How many of you guys are going to be working on planes?” he asked. A few dudes raised their hands. “Let me tell you something, boys. If the Air Force can’t trust you with simple tasks like folding your clothes the way we tell you, how can you expect to learn how to fix an engine or fold a parachute? No matter what your job is, you have people’s lives in your hands as well as the responsibility to keep your country free.” Great speech. I never for got it, obviously.
Mission and vision; any business has to have core principles based off of these two facets if it’s going to survive and thrive. And what is vision? Very simply, it is the purposed outcome of any endeavor. In other words, the hopeful intention of a venture. And the mission is the construct of the vision. The foundation and steal girders that hold everything together. The vision drives the mission and the mission contains strategy (the long game) and tactics designed and implemented to bring the vision to life. I know, pretty wordy right there, sorry. I may have read a few books about all this stuff. Anyway, you get the point. And what I’ve learned from 20 years in the military, 20 years in the private sector and now several years into my own business is this: the mission, strategy and tactics must be fluid and agile. But the vision needs to be solid and based in some type of service. Whatever you’re doing should help the community in some way.
Looking at things from a different point a view, let’s talk about marriage. Sadly, more than half don’t last these days. Now, you can blame society, distractions and other things, but I think a lot of people start out with a skewed vision if they even had one at all. “Till death do us part” used to be the vision driving a marriage, right? Now, it seems, it’s more like, “Till I get tired or bored and want something else.” See what happens when a vision is fluid? It becomes self-serving instead of serving others, like the person you married. And if your vision is faulty, so then will be your strategy and tactics. Couples become unhappy, disenchanted and create a new vision, one that involves leaving your wife or husband for someone else. That, in turn, dictates an entirely new mission, often with covert tactics. Am I losing you? Here’s what I learned in my first marriage, one that actually ended because one of us died, and now my second marriage to the woman who made me whole again: God has to be the foundation of the vision. If God is truly the foundation of marriage, the possibility of that union fulfilling the vision, until death, is far more tenable.
I decided open our dojo based off of a vision that Terri and I shared and that Kim has supported 100%. Can I tell you the vision? Here it is…
Create a unique place for people to learn self-discipline, build confidence and friendships. This place, this dojo, is not just going to be about martial arts and fighting. It will equally be a place for healing body and mind through exercise, therapy, conversations, and accountability. People are going to learn things about themselves that will ultimately affect the world around them.
Here’s the mission:
To educate our community on the value of martial arts training (budo) and fitness/wellness, ultimately providing an path to become the best version of themselves.
We do that by providing a fairly plain, rather austere environment with no frills, no trophies and sorry, no showers. We do it through simple yet arduous training in karate and aikido with some necessary jujutsu mixed in. We do it through well-developed exercise plans that address the whole person. We do it with love, compassion and discipline along with certain expectations for group behavior. And we do it all with a sense of humor.
The key point to the long-term strategy of this dojo, is that God is in the center. You can see that on our kamiza (spiritual center). No one is expected to believe anything. All I’ve ever asked for is that people respect those beliefs, same as any other dojo.
As one very close friend needs to remind me from time to time, success doesn’t necessarily mean we’re making a ton money. We’re not. But we are building another kind of wealth.
And that what’s what the vision is all about.
Dave Magliano
Tatsu Dojo
Jissenkan Budo
Dojo Cho
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