5 Leadership Lessons You Learn With Game Of Thrones

There are many leadership lessons -and many other things- that we can learn with A Song of Ice and Fire, the magnificent saga of George RR Martin that, thanks to HBO, we can also enjoy in its television version in the Game of Thrones series .

Many consider Game of Thrones, to use the better known denomination, is a complete leadership guide for entrepreneurs. And there is probably no better example to show that entrepreneurship is much more to start a business.

This very broad topic is not usually easy to explain with real life examples, since there are many different situations and specific cases that people can face. However, curious as it may seem, fiction offers us a magnificent possibility to explain it.

Keep in mind that leadership is something that you will have to put into practice at some point in your life and it is as important for a businessman or a boss as for a person who is dedicated to teaching or for parents who have to educate their children .

We are going to see some of those great leadership lessons that you can apply to your life to face the hard work of reaching your goals.

# 1 – Keep your promises … and pay your debts

We will hear it many times in the series from the mouth of any Lannister, especially Tyrion: “A Lannister always pays his debts.”

In life, the quickest way to lose people’s respect and the power and influence you may have is to promise things that you cannot deliver and to owe things that you have agreed to pay.

The best way to get people to do things for you is to have earned yourself a reputation as a good achiever and a good payer. To earn that fame, you will have to work hard and keep fulfilling. The Lannisters go further: they remind everyone. Great lesson in personal marketing, no doubt.

# 2 – Be consistent with your decisions and do what you have to do

A great leader does not hide when it comes to making difficult decisions, nor does he leave it to someone else to do what he needs to do.

Leaders who spend a lot of time in the trenches, doing the hard work, making tough decisions. Because, as Ned himself says: “He who hides behind executioners soon forgets what death is.”

# 3 – Leadership is not imposed, it is earned

“Any man who has to say, I am the king, he is not a true king. ” This glorious phrase from Tywin Lannister, the patriarch of the most powerful family in the Seven Kingdoms, is quite a lesson in what leadership means.

Because true power comes from where people think it comes from, not where you say it comes from. The best leaders are followed by collective will, not because they say “I’m the boss” or ” I’m in charge here . “

If you are a leader, act like a leader, earn the respect of people by working for them. The influence and power you gain will only be effective if you achieve it from the basis of respect.

# 4 – When chaos and problems come, there is only one way out: forward.

Problems are challenges to improve. But with Game of Thrones they are something more …

It is in bad times when you can discover what a person is really like. Also where you can test yourself. And when chaos strikes, that’s where a leader’s true strength is revealed. Effective leaders are not frustrated by challenges, but rather use them to prove themselves.

And what reason is he. If you see chaos as something that surrounds you and has no solution, you will sink as if you were falling down a well. Yet a leader sees that very chaos as an opportunity to rise and grow. You have no other option, since it is the only one there is.

But Littlefinger’s lesson does not end here, but continues: “ Chaos is not a well, it is a ladder. Many who try to climb it fall never to try again. The fall breaks them. Some have the opportunity to climb; they cling to the kingdom, or to the gods, or to love. Only the ladder is real. The ascent is the only thing there is.

# 5 – Always stay alert and prepared for the worst

Maybe we should have started here. “Winter is coming” is one of the most repeated phrases by members of House Stark, and the point at which the story begins, because that is the title of the first chapter of the series and also the first chapter of the book.

The Stark House , birthplace of great leaders (even the bastard Jon Snow proves to be a born leader), takes this motto to its best. From this motto we extract key lessons for success in life.

Leaders are vigilant. The world is uncertain. The best leaders always innovate, stick with it, and plan for the future. They are prepared for the unexpected, that is the essential, and they embrace winter especially when everyone is distracted and sunbathing.