Leadership & the Spartan Reserve: Balancing the Highs & the Lows
As we’ve grown our work with South Bend Code School, GiveGrove, and some of the other things we have going on, we’ve gotten the crash course on many, many things. One of those things is to keep a level head and stay calm regardless of having a good day or having a horrible, dumpster fire of pain and loss, kind of day.
Whenever we have an extreme day (either really good or really bad) I think of the movie 300. Released in 2006, 300 was an action movie directed by Zack Snyder based off of the graphic novel by Frank Miller. The movie is a fictional account of the Battle of Thermopylae in Greece during the Persian Wars.
In this story, a small group of 300 Spartan soldiers and their king, King Leonidas, hold off thousands of Persian soldiers for 3 days in an effort to allow their Greek allies to rally together and prepare a counter attack against the Persian forces. It’s an underdog story. A small group taking on large, unbeatable odds. David v Goliath. You see where I am going with this? It is a great analogy that can be likened to starting a company…Aside from the bro-tastic, completely chiseled dude army…oh…wait…that’s like most companies too.
Early on in the story, the 300 Spartans have some really great days. In fact, there is a moment before the Persian fleet ever reaches the shore that a storm rolls in and causes some of their ships to sink. The 300 Spartans cheer while watching. It’s a good day. They’re pumped. All of them except King Leonidas.
Here is the clip:
The line that gets me every time is:
“But one among us keeps his Spartan reserve.”
This is, hands down, the best part of the movie for me.
When starting a company, the joy and adrenaline that is felt when getting a first customer, closing a big deal, securing funding, etc, can be overwhelming. Those who are starting companies are usually doing these things with success in mind and, let’s be honest, success is hard earned. When you get the big wins, you want to celebrate, you want to fist pump until your arm falls off, you want to wear loin cloths and capes and yell in the rain with your squad (that last one may not be for everyone).
This is when it is most important to maintain your “Spartan Reserve”.
King Leonidas knew that this was just the beginning. He knew what the end game was. He knew what the Spartans were there for.
It is easy to get caught up in the victories. Balance is the key for a lot of reasons. Sanity might be the biggest one.
Keep your balance. Stay focused. You had a goal when you started. Go back to that. What can you do or change in order to help you get where you need to go?
The story doesn’t end so well for the Spartans in 300. Spoiler alert…they don’t make it.
It’s tough not to get over psyched when things are going well. I get it. I completely get it. I’ve done it. It’s also really hard not to get super down when things start to spiral. And believe me they will. Keep your balance. Stay focused. You had a goal when you started. Go back to that. What can you do or change in order to help you get where you need to go?
When starting a company, we probably aren’t going to be leading our entire team into a Hells Gate scenario like the Spartans here, but you can bet your butt we’re going to be heading into some rough waters from time to time. It would be ignorant to think otherwise.
You’re going to have a lot of great days, a lot of bad days, and a lot of days in between. As long as you can keep your focus where it needs to be and maintain your Spartan reserve, you’re going to be okay.
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this story please give it some love by clicking the applause button (Hint: you can click that button up to 50 times for a story).
Alex Sejdinaj is a cofounder of South Bend Code School, GiveGrove, and Code Works. He loves building cool stuff that helps people.
