Bill Diffenderffer, CEO samurai
Bill Diffenderffer, CEO of Skybus Airlines and author of The Samurai Leader: Winning Business Battles With the Wisdom, Honor and Courage of the Samurai Code, considers himself a samurai warrior. He believes this has helped him to be a better businessman, because it has given him courage and removed stress.
“If I go into a roomful of managers and ask them how many are afraid about what goes on in their business day, almost nobody raises a hand,” he says. But if he asks how many feel stressed every day, almost all the hands go up.
“What I’ve learned is that stress comes from fear, and because we don’t call it that, we can’t deal with it,” he says.
A manager might fear missing a target, or losing his or her job.
“The more you fear it, the more likely it becomes,” Mr. Diffenderffer says.
Bill lists some elements of the samurai code that help with business. The following are ones that I think relate to traders:
- Act with courage
- Appreciate the arts
- Be honest
- Maintain self-control
I am also currently reading The Way of the Warrior-Trader: The Financial Risk- Taker’s Guide to Samurai Courage, Confidence and Discipline, written by Sensei Richard McCall and recommended to me by Trader Mike, which is pretty good.
