Lessons From Miyagi-Do Consulting

My daughter showed her first real interest in martial arts after attending her friend’s birthday party hosted at a Tae Kwan Do dojang recently.

First off, kudos to the parents of said friend for the great choice of venue. What kid wouldn’t love a wall-to-wall mat and an opportunity to kick and punch padded objects without getting in trouble?

Second, I realized I don't have much experience to offer my daughter in case we move forward on pursuing martial arts training. While growing up, my friends and I didn’t practice formal martial arts (unless you count noogies, Dutch rubs, and hurts-don’t-its), however, I do understand you can expect to see the positive results of self-control, self-respect and respect for others from disciplined students.

And though branding, marketing and CRM consulting are the paths requiring my discipline these days, I am reminded of the helpful lessons learned from everyone’s favorite karate teacher, Mr. Miyagi from the original 1984 movie, The Karate Kid. Yes, the original. The remake in my mind doesn't exist.

Set Clear Expectations

In the movie, teenager Daniel LaRusso has some problems he’s trying to figure out. New kid in a new town with his single mother. There’s a mutual interest between him and the wealthy, ex-girlfriend of the toughest, karate-kicking, dirt-bike riding teenager around, Johnny Lawrence. This amounts to some intense bullying by Johnny and his fellow karate students, a.k.a., the Cobra Kais. 

During an escalated bullying scene, Mr. Miyagi, protects Daniel and demonstrates his mastery of karate. A visit to the dojo of the students and a confrontation with their teacher, or sensei, provides an agreed upon solution. 

Under their sensei’s orders, the Cobra Kais won’t lay a finger on Daniel until the All Valley Karate Tournament. Daniel has time to train. Miyagi agrees to train him. 

From the start, Miyagi sets the following expectations: 

• “I karate teach. You karate do.”
• “You do karate, yes. You do karate, no. You do karate, ‘guess so’, sooner or later (you get) squashed like grape.”

It’s clear where they are going. Miyagi will teach karate. Daniel will learn. Ambivalence has no place in the relationship. 

There’s no room for unclear expectations when working with clients, whether they be internal or external customers. We should understand their role, they should understand ours.

Expect Resistance

Miyagi employs some creative training techniques which Daniel believes are taking advantage of him. Washing and waxing cars, sanding a broad new deck, painting an expansive fence and painting the siding of a house are part of the “training”. None of it looks like karate and Daniel becomes bitter, threatening to quit. 

The “Eureka” scene of the movie occurs at this point. All the while, Miyagi was training Daniel’s muscle memory with movements similar to karate. When he commands Daniel to demonstrate the techniques, Daniel is surprised to find he knows more karate than he ever expected. 

Clients may not have insight into the tried and true techniques you have grown to trust. Change is not always welcome, especially when clients may not see the big picture. We need to continuously deliver the goods and remind them of the big picture, all in the right timing. 

Reestablish Point of Trust

Miyagi has gained Daniel’s full trust. Daniel sees the progress toward the goal of not being a stationary punching bag in the tournament, yet, he still has concerns. He wants to learn to punch while Miyagi is wanting him to embrace more foundational concepts like learning how to stay balanced. 

In a scene where Daniel keeps questioning Miyagi while standing on the stern of a small dinghy, Miyagi tips the boat over, sending Daniel into the pond to underscore the need for balance. 

Once our clients have reached the point of trust and adopted the vision of the branding, the marketing, the implementation or whatever we bring to the table in the form of value, their excitement to push forward may cause them to want to run before walking. We get to apply those brakes in the form of our experience and commitment to the principles we know will work

?Release

The day of the tournament arrives. Miyagi has invested in Daniel as much as he can in a short amount of time. He has emptied his tank. His advice and training will now meet testing. 

Daniel arrives at the tournament with some expected nervousness. He didn’t even bring a belt to secure his gi. However, he presses forward and doesn't run from the competition.

Because Miyagi can’t fight for him this time, Daniel must trust the equipping he received will help him meet his goal of protecting himself. 

We must release our clients to use the methodologies, products, tools, and training with the understanding that they didn’t seek our services to do for them, but to lead them toward a better way of doing for themselves. 

As we look to our 2020 goals of client engagement, acquisition, retention and blow out of the water service, let’s think to the disciplines we’ll employ which will lead to success of all involved. 

It's also one way to achieve true balance through mutual respect in relationship to our clients.