What I learnt from Grand Jedi Master Yoda...

Just yesterday, I was blessed by a surprise visit by none other than Master Yoda. When I walked into my family room early morning, I was speechless to see Yoda comfortably seated on the visitor’s sofa.

I was stunned and felt humbled & honored. After gathering myself, I interviewed Master Yoda and asked him questions that have always being intriguing me. Master Yoda was very responsive and shot some thought provoking questions at me as well.

The Interview (as is) is reproduced below.

Rodinhood (Me) – ‘Master Yoda, please accept my deep gratitude for visiting me’.

Master Yoda – ‘Honor, mine it is.’

(Yoda speaks backwards. For the sake of the readers, the conversations will now appear in normal (forward) speech. Also, I noticed that when Yoda made an important point, he looked me in the eyes. 

Rodinhood – ‘ Master Yoda – what made you visit us?

Yoda – ‘Rodinhood, I believe entrepreneurs are the new Jedi Knights.

The military battles of the universe are over and economic battles have begun. These battles are far more brutal than military battles and last forever. So, we need entrepreneurs to take over from where the Jedi Knights left off.’

Yoda added 'Also, Entrepreneurs are similar to Jedi knights. They are motivated, relentless in their pursuit and fearless. I know that your social network therodinhoods.com is one of the ports of call for many entrepreneurs and hence it became a must for me to visit you'. 

Rodinhood – ‘Master Yoda, what are you personally doing nowadays’?

Yoda – ‘I am training the entrepreneurs of the Universe to be prepared to fight the new battles that lie ahead.

I see massive Armies of Disruption coming. Also, Change Agents that are neither easy to handle nor subdued in their aggression are storming the Galaxies.

The Jedi council’s mission is to manage and defeat this new face of the Dark Force and hence my visitation’.

Rodinhood – ‘Master Yoda – You mean to say that the Dark Force is “Change”?’

Yoda – ‘Rodinhood, first understand that the Dark Side is not always evil. It’s a Force and is needed to balance the Universe. It’s like a see saw. U cannot enjoy a see saw without the two extreme ends.

Change has the complexion of the Dark Side. Think and think hard. Change comes unannounced and often at times when you least want it.

The average citizens of the Galaxies suffer at the hands of Change. My Jedi power allows me to assemble the finest group of entrepreneurs in the Universe and train them to tackle and manage change.

Rodinhood ‘ Master Yoda, I need to really absorb this. It’s a bit too difficult for me to digest so much so fast’. 

Yoda smiled. He said ‘Let me ask you - why do you wear this Star Wars T-Shirt’? (As you will notice, I wore a Black Star Wars T-Shirt while talking to Yoda)

Rodinhood – ‘Master Yoda, I wore this in your honor. As a salute to what you accomplished in the ‘Star Wars’ period and how you rescued us all from doom’.

Yoda – ‘Rodinhood – do not live in the past. Live now. What do you feel now? Tell me without thinking’

Rodinhood – ‘Yoda, I feel insecure. I don’t know if my ventures will succeed. I don’t know if I did the right thing by being a chaser of dreams. I am scared that I may fail. I have sold hope to so many people – that hope should turn to gold, not dust’. (My voice slightly cracked with this emotional discharge).

Yoda ‘ Rodinhood – Do you recall my two golden rules for this? Let me repeat them for you:

1) The fear of loss is the path to the dark side.

2) Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.

Once you understand these two simple points, you will overcome fear and march towards many successes’.

I felt nice and warmed up to Master Yoda.

Rodinhood- ‘Master Yoda, share with us what Entrepreneurs can learn from the invincible Jedi knights?’

Yoda tensed up a bit, closed his eyes and became motionless. As if he had escaped somewhere, leaving his body behind. A few minutes later, his body relaxed and he opened his eyes and said:

‘These are the simple Jedi Rules:

• Feel the force – in case of Entrepreneurs, feel your gut. If you can feel the path ahead, go for it – the rest will follow.
  
  
• Train hard– the best Jedi knights are punished in battle when they become slow and overconfident. Entrepreneurs must work very hard at what they do, and sometimes that hard work and implementation is more important than just the ideas they have.
  
  
• Learn to respect everyone. The vain Jedi knights have learnt bitter lessons. Arrogant entrepreneurs suffer the same fate.
  
  
• Partner and share. The most accomplished Jedi Knights know which battles to fight and which ones to leave for others. The entrepreneur who partners and shares responsibility also wins.
  
  
• Fight for the cause, not just to win. This may seem complex, but it means that like Jedi knights who fought to preserve peace, entrepreneurs must battle to create value. It may not always be very profitable, but that should not be the sole reason for why entrepreneurs do what they do'.

Yoda was calm and meditative as he spoke, but I had become restless. The knowledge and wisdom had overwhelmed me, and I excused myself for a break.

On the way back to the meeting, I decided on playing a trick on Yoda. I changed from my Black Star Wars T-Shirt, and wore a grey T-Shirt with the Storm Troopers on them. (The Storm Troopers were the enemy soldiers of the Dark Side). I wanted to test Yoda and see how he reacted to the irritation I wore on my person.

I entered the room and sat directly facing Yoda. He did not flinch and seemed completely nonplussed and relaxed. Immediately I felt guilty and twitched here and there.

Yoda – ‘Master Rodinhood – what seems to be on your mind’?

Rodinhood – ‘Yoda, I tried to wear this T-Shirt to test how you would react. Now I am feeling very small and embarrassed’.

Yoda – ‘Rodinhood, I did feel the pain, but did not show what I felt for even a second. You must as an entrepreneur learn to conceal pain and troubles and carry on as if nothing bothers you. Very soon, nothing will bother you.

The acting of nothingness will manifest itself as reality’.

Rodinhood –‘ Yoda, I am so moved. Is there any word of advise for all the enterprising people who will read this interview’?

Yoda ‘ Go out Jedi Entrepreneurs, and venture. Nothing is ever lost. Every day that you fight, you create value. If not in moneys earned, in learnings obtained, in lasting relationships won, in experience gained. Fear not defeat in economic warfare, since you can always start again.’

Finally, Yoda looked at me one last time and spoke the immortal words I was longing to hear - 'Master Rodinhood, May the Force be with you'.

I was in tears. I could not say more. As a tribute to his visit, I humbly requested Yoda to accept the Rodinhood Cap as our parting gift which he happily accepted and also obliged me with a secret  photograph.

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Alok Kejriwal is a digital entrepreneur, based in Mumbai. He sold his last Company to Disney. He currently runs Games2win and is the founder of therodinhoods.com - India's only social network for entrepreneurs. Connect with Alok on Linkedin, Twitter @rodinhood & Facebook 

Also read his best articles here!

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