My motto for last week as I was transported back into time and rode through France as a Musketeer was “All for One and One For All”. Before I decided to attend this Musketeer Academy I have to confess to not really knowing about the stories of the three musketeers and the important role they had in serving the French King and protecting him. And I certainly never really gave any consideration to their motto “All for One and One For All”, and yet the more time I spent as a Musketeer, the more I experienced how this philosophy was critical for their success and how it’s essence is fundamental to business success too.
To me the phrase “All for One and One For All” embodies the real need that we have in business right now for collaboration and co-operation. No longer can an individual be successful by themselves, but rather success comes from being part of a team. It comes from the collective actions of everyone rather then the results of one individual.
I often talk about Shared Leadership and how in today’s fast paced environment there is simply too much going on for just one leader to pay attention too. This is why the leadership role needs sharing, and it is what the horses do so well. They act seamlessly together to collectively ensure the safety of the herd – and if any herd member is not playing their part, they are quickly reprimanded and if necessary expelled from the herd. The herd act as one and understand that value of “All for One and One For All”, after all their very life depends on it.
I experienced the importance if “All for One and One For All” whilst learning fencing too. As our troop of Musketeers stormed the castles it was imperative that we all worked together if we were to overcome our adversaries. After all in battle your odds of success are considerably stacked in your favour if you’re fighting two on one, rather than one on one!!. But this is only possible if you have a clear focus and everyone knows the direction and the goal you are aiming for.
So this weeks Wednesday Wisdom thought is how can you collaborate and connect with others, how can you share your dreams and vision and in the words of Jim Collins “get the right people on the bus” so that you have a team working alongside you that are all focused on the end goal, rather than their own personal agenda and ego and who live the adage “All for One and One For All”
As always I’d love you to share in the Facebook group about what you are doing to create your own team of Musketeers who embody the values of “All for One and One For All”
Julia Felton (aka The Business Wrangler) is the founder of Business HorsePower. Business leaders, entrepreneurs and executives hire her to accelerate their business performance by harnessing the energy of their people to work more collaboratively together. By aligning purpose with actions the team achieves exponential results as everyone starts pulling in the same direction.
Julia believes that business is a force for good and through designing purpose-driven businesses that leverage the laws of nature, and the herd, you can create businesses founded on the principles of connection, collaboration and community that make a significant impact in the world.
