Entrepreneurship 101: How to fight like a warrior… inspired by Joshua Wong
It’s been a while since I put pen to paper on a blog post… but I felt like today was a good day to do it, in remembrance of someone called Joshua Wong.
Joshua Wong, like many great Entrepreneurs and Creatives, knew how to fight a battle. It’s often been said of me that I know ‘How to fight’ which I take as a great compliment, but it’s been inspired by my experiences as well as inspirational people. At times we are all called to fight like a warrior… but how exactly do we learn how to do it? This is one of the questions I will consider as I reflect on the memory of Josh.
To fill you in if you don’t know already, Josh passed away on Christmas Day due to cancer. But it doesn’t mean he lost the fight. In fact, I think he won it in many ways.
As a bit of background, Josh was an incredible creative who held a few titles: Film-maker, Movie Director (self-funded!), Entrepreneur… and for Kno Global, our Creative Director.
I got to know Josh for the first time over a coffee, where he decided (to my surprise) that he wanted to support us and the company I started in more ways than one. He quickly became part of the team, saw me in some of my worst moments, and taught me a lot about how to have successful relationships at work.
He was a fighter. From the day I met him, he always seemed to be fighting for something… whether that was a cause or a person he cared about. There was always something big and worth fighting for in his mind! Which I think is something we can all relate to. So, what are some of the things I noticed about him, which made him a good fighter?
- Put people first. He always put people first, and seemed to approach challenges with the wisdom that ‘unless I win the people first, I won’t win the fight’. By this, I don’t mean ‘winning people over’ in a way that’s manipulative, I mean ‘winning with people’.
This means even in the moments when it’s hard to work with certain people (we’ve all been there, and I bet some people come to your mind) you’re really not gonna win the battle unless your key people are supporting you. The battle is not meant to be fought alone, and that’s a lesson I had emphasised by working with Josh.
2. Lead with your heart. This may sound cliché or cheesy, but there is no other way to say what is undeniably true (And I like to be direct). It’s a truth many of us know, but struggle to grapple with and apply. To me, and what I learnt through Josh, is that it means leading with your heart ‘open’.
Back when I was learning how to ‘be an entrepreneur and a leader at the same time’ (big challenges! :O), Josh basically told me to keep my heart open. It was that wise Brené Brown style reminder to be vulnerable.
Josh taught me how important it is to keep your heart open as a leader and be vulnerable, with the right people in the right setting, and critically with your most valued team members.
Even if you find yourself in a position of leadership, don’t think this excuses you from being vulnerable. All your team members deserve some level of vulnerability from you, so they know that you’re in this fight with them as a human too. Big words!
3. Honour your co-warriors. One of the big challenges Josh brought to the table early on, was his choice to honour his co-warriors. He was selecting people to work with on our branding and logo design for the company. Being a early-stage company my obvious instinct was ‘cheap and cheerful’, but Josh wanted ‘quality and giving back’. Meaning that he wanted to honour the work of a talented creative who would help us out at the beginning of our journey, and perhaps go on to be a key strategic part of our team.
He reminded me about the importance of honouring creatives and their work. Although a logo can be simple, it is the first impression people have of your company. And you can’t make a first impression more than once!
Josh didn’t want to cheat the people who would help us make our first impression. Perhaps our first impression to someone particular would change the course of our company forever, and I believe that probably has happened thanks to honouring our co-warriors.
So that’s it, 3 of my top lessons learnt on ‘How to fight like a warrior’ from Joshua Wong, and many other lessons which I might not be aware of right now but I’ll keep with me and the company for time to come.
Thank you Josh, and thank you to his incredible wife Chelsea Wong. You have both fought a courageous battle with cancer, and in my eyes you won. Perhaps the goal wasn’t defeating the disease, but challenging people’s ideas on ‘How to fight a battle well’, and I believe you’ve well and truly done that. If you haven’t had the chance already, do check out Chelsea’s page for the story… click here
