How’s your hearing? What did you just hear? Can you tell me what was just said to you? If I go and ask that person what they said to you, will I get the same answer from them that I got from you? Were you looking at the person who was speaking to you or were you just listening? Non-verbal components to communication help ensure delivery of the intended message. True warriors know, from painful experience, that they do not always get the message and are not always successful in delivering the message. Why painful? Well if the message is not clearly received or delivered, actions that are completely unnecessary may ensue. If we are lucky, we might need to redo something that has been done incorrectly. If we’re unlucky, then perhaps hard feelings could develop … even the outbreak of war. So what does the true warrior do to help mitigate this apparent problem? The true warrior double checks, reconfirms, paraphrases, verifies, and has the other party paraphrase back as well … until both parties agree that they have the same understanding. In many situations, the communication is memorialized in a memo or in some other document or record for future reference, and for verification f intent and direction. This is a small thing that can have big consequences.

The true warrior knows that his or her life is built upon very small things, small actions, and certain pivotal moments that (in of themselves) are insignificant, but when looked at retroactively (with the lens of history and the accompanying biases with which we are afflicted), we will be tempted to say they were all big things. This is why it is so important for the true warrior to be able to read the signs, hear the message, and deliver the message, and to be able to act appropriately at all times.

Can you hear me now? What am I saying? You are warriors. Pay attention to what you hear and what you say, for by getting it right more often than not, you will be able to create lots and lots of profit. So it has been written.