Life Lessons of The Dread Pirate Roberts

Once word leaks out that a pirate has gone soft, people begin to disobey you, and then it’s nothing but work, work, work, all the time. 

Ah, who can resist the call of the pirate’s life. Yo ho, ho yo, right? I was surprised to find recently that, while The Princess Bride’’s Dread Pirate Roberts is clearly a fictional character, there really was a dreaded pirate Roberts who sailed the high seas in the early 18th century, looting and pillaging at his ease. Unlike Westley’s predecessor, this Roberts was named not Cummerbund but Bartholomew, an equally less-than-fear-inducing name (though somewhat more suitable when shortened to Bart).

Piracy, as it turns out, wasn’t quite what our movies today make it out to be. In many ways, it was worse – Dread Pirate Roberts only killed the crews of the ships he plundered, while plenty of real pirates were notorious for their creative tortures, like slicing off a victim’s ears, frying them up, and forcing the victim to eat them. But in other ways, pirates’ lives were quite a bit better than our movies make out – they were free in ways few of their times were, and had developed laws and traditions that protected their freedoms as well as – if not better than – our modern Constitutional principles.

In fact, there are quite a few things we can learn from the pirates of the 17th and 18th centuries. Like other organized criminals, pirates were consummate business people, whose taste for booty could only satisfied by shrewd thinking and practical action. Here, then, are six things the Dread Pirate Roberts might tell you if you hired him as a business consultant for your firm, or a life coach.

1. Your reputation precedes you.

I know who you are — your cruelty reveals everything. You’re the Dread Pirate Roberts; admit it.

What a coup for the Dread Pirate Roberts! Here he is, face-to-face with a farm girl-turned-princess, and he’s recognized instantly – despite the fact that nobody’s ever seen him and lived. That’s reputation, and in many ways, it’s the most important treasure.

Pirates had a rough dilemma to face. They made their living by boarding and plundering merchant ships. Fighting too hard against those ships’ crews risked damaging the ship or its precious cargo – but not fighting hard enough meant most likely suffering defeat and not winning the prize at all.

Pirates’ solution to this dilemma was clever – they let it be known that the crews of any ship that surrendered without a fight would be spared, unharmed – while every last man of a crew that resisted would be slaughtered, often viciously. With that kind of reputation, pirates rarely had to fight at all – most crews that came under assault by pirates surrendered immediately.

Today, your reputation spreads more easily and more quickly than ever before – imagine what pirates could have accomplished with a service like RateMyPirate.com! A reputation for being effective and without qualms about doing what’s necessary can open a lot of doors.

2. Follow through on your promises.

THE DREAD PIRATE ROBERTS TAKES NO SURVIVORS. ALL YOUR WORST NIGHTMARES ARE ABOUT TO COME TRUE!

Continued at : http://www.lifehack.org/articles/management/life-lessons-of-the-dread-pirate-roberts.html