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The leader of the Jedi council in the Star Wars universe was Yoda.
His job was to see the future and yet he allowed his vision to be clouded by the dark side of the Force. Despite his power, experience, authority and wisdom, Yoda was terrible at understanding what was happening around him until it was too late.
Darth Sidious, the Supreme Chancellor of the Galactic Republic, was hiding under the nose of the Jedi Grand Master for a decade. The rise of Palpatine's empire and the change of an entire culture were the result of Yoda's failure to recognize changes as they were happening.
What did the Jedi do when faced with confusing facts? He retreated to his chambers to meditate, but he didn't do anything.
Yes, he was Kodaked.
This is common among the leadership of corporations. Many executives act as though good times will never end or that they don't care if they do.
There is always another market leader who ignores the winds of change, whether it's the CEO of Kodak dismissing digital photography or the CEO of Blockbuster downplaying the threat of Netflix.
‘I have a bad feeling about this’ are words leaders should live by, because the joke shows awareness and proactivity.
Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi combined insight and action to preserve hope for the future.
The goal of startup founders, corporate leaders and venture capitalists is to see the future. Here are five lessons from the heroic actions of Obi-Wan Kenobi, and how corporate and startup executives alike can apply them to develop transformational strategies and tactics.
The argument that the Jedi is out of touch is justified when the Sith criticize the Jedi for arrogance. Obi-Wan was sent on missions by the Jedi Council. One of the Jedi's top field agents is able to gather information to help understand what's happening across the republic.
It is Kenobi who first learns that Darth Tyranus is actually Count Dooku during the Clone Wars, and he continues to pull on the threads of each clue he finds, always in a quest to learn more. In Episode II, Kenobi travels to Kamino to investigate the mystery of the clone army.
You can meditate your way to change. I have a bad feeling about this, it might be similar to Intel co- founder Andy Grove.
It can be said that it is important to pay attention at all times. This means being dissatisfied with lack of clarity and looking for information about markets, customers and the state of everyone else's capabilities.
Street-level data shows that corporations should meet a lot of potentially disruptive startups, and startups should meet with potentially competitive corporations. They should meet with as many people as possible.
General Grievous is tracked down by Obi-Wan in Episode III. While the Separatist leader has killed many Jedi, the vastly outnumbered Kenobi realized he must take the risk of confronting Grievous. He leaps from above in the midst of dozens of enemy droids, delivering a line that has become meme fodder.
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