American Perspectives: Emulating Chinggis/Genghis Khan

"At this moment, Genghis Khan resembled little more than a petty chief of an insignificant band, unlikely to be known beyond a small circle of enemies who seemed about to extinguish him and his followers forever...In the summer of 1203...Genghis Khan wandered with the remnants of his army near a now unknown place in Eastern Mongolia that he called Baljuna Waters.  With no food left, he and his men had only the muddy water of the lake to sustain them, their single horse having already been eaten...The summer of 1203 marked a turning point for Genghis Khan and the Mongols.  They had been saved by a foreign merchant, and, now reinvigorated, they returned to their homeland where...people began to flock to Genghis Khan.  He and his men had proved their hardiness, their willingness to stare defeat in the eye, and still not back down.  The people hailed them as a band of heroes. ...Genghis Khan's fortunes had turned.  In the next two years he quickly defeated all steppe opponents..." "The Secret History of the Mongol Queens"-By Jack Weatherford.

Genghis Khan was in his forties in 1203 when he finally reached this point in his life.  So right there, the idea that you're too old to do anything spectacular is a bunch of BS.  He had spent many of his previous years struggling, being betrayed, and not being taken seriously.  During a significant portion of his childhood, he was enslaved.  Aside from the issue of enslavement, I feel I am dealing with similar circumstances in a modern context. I'm inspired by Genghis Khan because he was able to break through all of that.  The modern version of these issues in the United States are often used as justification for giving up, yet feeling entitled to a participation trophy.  These are issues that would absolutely break the average American in a million pieces, and maybe in 1203, those were issues that would have broken the average Mongol (though I heard the Mongols as a whole are really tough people).  These were only mere obstacles to him, and he was able to break through them in the same way the Kool-Aid Man in the late 80's/early 90's busted through the wall.

His mother was kidnapped and married against her will.  Her husband was the same man who kidnapped her!  Genghis Khan's family was never fully accepted by their tribe. So, when his father died, his family was abandoned by their tribe and left for dead.  Not only did Genghis Khan's mother have to deal with her 5 children who were under the age of 10, she had to deal with the additional wife and her two children.  Obviously, cultural context was different back then, but if it were me, I probably would have told the other wife to "figure it out."  And yet, they all survived.  Genghis Khan learned to work the kinship system in his favor when he was at an extreme disadvantage (without a father, and not having other relatives within the tribe, by default he was nothing).  He had to deal with so many years of being below others in order to get where he needed to be.  And his turning point came at the moment when it seemed like everything was going to fall apart, when the situation appeared to be "game over." Because of the way he handled it, it was exactly what he needed to prove himself as a great Khan, and the infamous conquerer whom we know (and highly misunderstand) today.  From this, I've learned it's not people showcasing all of their successes that will win admiration, respect, and a following.  It's how they handle themselves when they are faced with failure upon failure upon failure.  Do they hide it?  Do they cast blame?  Or do they take ownership and work to improve time after time, even if they don't immediately succeed after correcting the mistakes?

It's the situation with Genghis Khan that I just mentioned earlier, where it was essentially "balls to the wall," when it looked like he and his supporters were toast that reminds me during my moments of darkness that these are exactly what I need in order for my business to succeed.  People are paying close attention to how I handle my successes and failures; and whether I like it or not, how it influences the opinion they have of my business.  And so, I not only have to share my successes, I have to be able to share my willingness to bounce back from failure.  Sometimes, failure is embarassing, such as the time when I did not do well at the K-Play Convention, at all.  I learn more from my failures than successes.  I've learned to be more proactive with my in person sales pitch without being pushy.  It does need fine tuning, but it will develop over time.

Genghis Khan's resilience and success reminds me of the phrase: "A black belt is a white belt who never quit."  That is definitely true!  I feel like I am still very much a white belt, and I refuse to quit.  Genghis Khan pushed forward no matter what the barriers were, and I must practice doing the same!