Darth Vader’s Guide On What Not To Do In Business

Star Wars, being the veritable mine of awesomeness that it is, teaches a variety of lessons. Yoda teaches about determination and focus (“Do or do not; there is no try”). Vader proves that it’s never too late to be redeemed and forgiven. Han Solo shows that even if the odds are against your success (or survival), you can still make it work.

Darth Vader looking scary

Image via Pascal

Though you can derive many life lessons from this classic, there are also a few things Star Wars can teach us about business and some common mistakes to avoid.

1. Rule by Fear
The biggest leadership mistake Vader makes is punishment by force choke. He first uses it in the infamous “I find your lack of faith disturbing” scene, for someone who merely expresses an opinion he disagrees with. This act inspires fear in those he commands. Later on, he ends up killing a different admiral for making a simple mistake just before a significant battle with the Rebel Alliance. Between both of these situations, those under him are ruled by fear, knowing what will happen should they go against him or mess up.

Fixing The Rattle

Listen closely. Can you hear the rattle? There’s a slight tick and click and rattle going on in your life.

I’m sure of it. There is in mine. There’s always something that’s clamoring for my attention.

Too often I push away the noise. Thinking it’ll go away.

How wrong I am.

Whenever I hear the rattle in my life, I begin to think about the vehicles I’ve owned. To say I’ve been rough on them would be an understatement.

I’m one of those guys who puts off car maintenance until it’s in dire need of repair.

Most recently it’s been with my trusty Ford Ranger. He’s a mini truck but he’s been faithful transportation.

Lately there was a small rattle or odd noise when I’d drive the truck. Especially when I’d exit a driveway with a dip. I thought it was no big deal.

Should You Always Take The More Productive Path?

What’s a struggle you face frequently? One struggle I face is taking the path of least resistance. The path that will get me to my goal quicker.

The more productive path… Or so I want to call it.

But should I, or you, always take the more productive path? Is it really what we need to be doing?

Or is there a better way?

My Thoughts

Leaders always want to find newer and better ways to accomplish tasks. If we’re able to reduce the amount of time a task takes, we should do it in the, supposedly, more productive way.

This is what we’ve always been told.

Finding the quicker ways to finish a project means we can fit more in our day. We can train more people. We can lead from different vantage points.

3 Things You Can Do To Deliver Extraordinary Results

There’s really no point in doing what you do unless you can stand out from the pack. To offer something different.

This is where extraordinary results come into play. We can develop methods where we’re consistently delivering value and action-packed results.

Group of dedicated individuals

Image by Julian Fong

If we’re doing everything everyone else is doing, then what’s so special about you? This is the question that needs to be answered. And I think the answer is going to be we need to stop doing what everyone else is doing.

To deliver truly extraordinary results, we’ve got to wade into the abnormal. We’ve got to do something our team or customers are not expecting.

When we do, this blows people away.

So, let’s take a look at 3 things we can do to deliver extraordinary results.