Stockdale on Leadership

Principle 4: Compulsion and free will may coexist

Many questions should be asked of a person who says he or she was coerced into taking an action. To the instructor who says, "I pushed the student because he drove me to it," Aristotle would say "more information is required before the act is may be considered justified." The Admiral's POW history is evident in this principle. It becomes too easy for us to blame others or circumstances for our own shortcomings.

Principle 5: Every person can be more than he or she is

Taekwondo leaders limit students' potential by appealing to what they are, rather than what they might become. Persuasion is a primary responsibility of a leader. Taekwondo instructors must seek and demand excellence in their students.

Principle 6: Standards and absolute equality are a tradeoff

If you subordinate your standards to equality, you have no standards. The ideology of relativism has convinced too many people that everyone is good, simply because they "are." This philosophy undermines the high standards of Taekwondo. Some things, and some people, are simply wrong. All students are not equal. Some have to train harder and longer to achieve the same belt level that others achieve with ease.