Chivalry in business

Jason Kingsley, co-founder of Rebellion and practising medieval knight, explains how and why his multi-million pound business is rooted in the principles of the chivalric code

 

There’s a well-known meme which helps to indicate how fast history moves. It involves subtracting the amount of years you’ve been alive from your birth year to show the events you are as close to chronologically in the past as you are to those today.

 

I was born in 1964, which means that I am as close to 1907 as I am to today: in technological terms, a year most famous for being that in which Marconi first sent radio messages across the Atlantic from Ireland to Nova Scotia.

 

How the world has changed since then, and technology evolved. As the founder of a successful games development company, I see this progress daily. But I believe that understanding the principles of the past puts you in even greater stead for success.

 

History is my passion. In my free time, I am a practising medieval knight - proficient in swordsmanship, a keen archer and an expert in medieval combat, as seen on my Modern History YouTube channel. That’s why I try to live my life according to the Chivalric Code, or rather, a chivalric code.

 

And where that may seem out of touch, I believe that chivalric qualities can, and should, be applied to everyone irrespective of gender, colour, creed or political leaning.

 

There’s a lot of misunderstanding about what a chivalric code is. Say ‘chivalry’ to people, and many of them think you mean a certain form of behaviour by men towards women – opening doors, giving up seats on public transport, even laying your coat across a puddle Walter Raleigh-style.

 

Depending on your point of view, this kind of behaviour is either considerate, polite and gallant or outmoded, unwanted and patronising. Possibly all of those things combined. But it’s barely scratching the surface of chivalry.

 

We started Rebellion thirty years ago and have weathered many storms, including now the latest financial crisis and, of course, the ongoing consequences of Brexit. What I’ve tried to apply each time is honouring a code in business that keeps us rooted in the values we were originally built on.

 

In business, that means paying people on time, doing fair deals, protecting the weaker and less fortunate, and being a decent person: not a pushover or a goody-two-shoes, but someone who stands up for what’s right. 

 

So what are some of the knightly and chivalric principles I live and work by?

 

Firstly, faith - and I don’t mean that in the religious sense. Chivalric faith meant trust and integrity, a pledge to always be faithful to one’s promises no matter how big or small they were, and that’s a lesson which is equally applicable today. Keeping faith means to battle onwards, no matter how hard the path is, and to believe in yourself and those around you.

 

Charity, in its medieval form, is to give with no expectation of return - think of what someone would really like or need, and share it with them with no conditions. Think well of people – because most people are fundamentally good and decent.

 

Justice was not just a case of the knight defending those who depend on him, and therefore some form of noblesse oblige: it’s the responsibility of us all to risk mockery and disdain in order to make a stand on something that’s right, no matter how unpopular that stand may be. Justice is action to ensure that all members of society receive fair treatment.

 

Temperance. Over the years, the word temperance has taken on certain connotations. I think of temperance as an application of moderation across the board and a tenet by which various parts of my life can be kept in balance. This involves voluntary self-restraint in several areas: restraint from revenge by practising non-violence and forgiveness, restraint from arrogance by practising humility and modesty, and restraint from excesses by refusing to indulge in extravagant luxury. In essence, it involves restraining an excess of an impulse.

 

Resolution. This has several different meanings, all of which are applicable in one way or another to running a business. There’s resolution meaning resolve and resilience, resolution meaning to make a decision or solve a problem, resolution meaning a promise to oneself, and resolution meaning the level of visible detail. They all come back to the same thing: leadership.

 

Truth is particularly important when it comes to how you treat your colleagues. The actual way in which you relate to people is important. It’s important too that it’s a kind and honest communication, in my opinion. People are different - not better or worse, obviously. Those contrasting temperaments complement each other and if you can’t resolve differences, approach it maturely.

 

These are just some of the tenets I live by, both professionally and personally, although I see them as one and the same. I could continue on the principles of sagacity, liberality, diligence, prudence and hope but I fear I may lose you.

 

I will, however, end on the topic of valour and the need to be brave. This is one of the hardest things as a leader - making decisions knowing they could be wrong or not turn out as planned. As a jouster, I am fascinated by the concept of valour in battle and the principles apply just as much in a business sense. Is it necessary to take someone down to further your own desires?

 

There’s a valour in refusing to bring someone down even when it costs you - and that is quite chivalrous.

 

As Gandalf says in The Lord of the Rings, ‘I have found that it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.’

 

To be chivalric does not necessarily mean to fight great monsters and combat vast evil, it means to live decently and try to help others.

 

---

 

Jason Kingsley OBE is co-founder and CEO of Rebellion and practising medieval knight

 

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com