Your Sword in the Stone
The Sword in the Stone, Excalibur, was the symbol of everything Camelot stood for. It was the axis around which every decision revolved and it embodied all the values the people held dear. And no one could remove the sword from its place except Arthur, the true and rightful king.
A true and rightful king has the Sword in the Stone in his hand and grants unconditional authority to his warriors to act in the service of “Camelot”. By a bond with the king, every warrior carries the Sword in the Stone and is totally clear about the unconditional authority he has from the king to take action, and to say “absolutely yes” without first having to check with someone else.
Don’t confuse your Sword in the Stone with your objectives, standards or your mission statement. It’s much mightier than any of those. Objectives, Standards and Mission Statements are notoriously limp, missing the mark every time by asking, “What can I do that’s different from the other guy’s?” and “What is my mission?” A warrior with his hand on the Sword in the Stone isn’t likely to ask silly questions at all, but rather say, “This is who I am and what I stand for. This is the action that I will take. You can like it, you can lump it, or you can take it down the road and dump it, but I will forever remain who I truly am.”
Sounds like a great way to live, doesn’t it? (Unless, of course, you have the backbone of a rabbit; then it sounds just plain scary. But then everything sounds scary to a rabbit.) But I digress.
A warrior never abandons a battle or a campaign that revolves around their Sword in the Stone. And sword campaigns tend to perform much better than those built merely upon clever ideas. A person’s Sword in the Stone embodies their core values and defines their essence, and from these flow their non-negotiable standards, mission objectives and their tribe’s positive experiences.
Do you have non-negotiable standards? Do you and those who relate to you know exactly what you stand for… and stand against? If your answers are yes, yes, yes, and yes, you may possibly have the ingredients to erect a powerful and iconic Cult Brand.
Superficiality is never attractive. People are attracted to the genuine, the authentic, and the real. In the words of Robert Frost, “We love the things we love for what they are.” Likewise, people you relate to will take strength, stamina and joy from knowing what you stand for.
“Work is about a search for daily meaning as well as daily bread, for recognition as well as cash, for astonishment rather than torpor; in short, for a sort of life rather than a Monday through Friday sort of dying.” – Studs Terkel
So, what agreements, standards and objectives do you have that revolve around your Sword in the Stone? And in what Stone is your sword securely planted?
29 Sep 2009 adminDH