History’s Smartest Badass
What The World’s Greatest Conqueror Can Teach Us About Business, Relationships, and Life
History has a reputation of being somewhat dry, but believe me when I say this is going to be anything but boring.
In Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World, Jack Weatherford outlines the life and legend of one of history’s greatest conquerors. I’m only 50 pages in, and already I’ve uncovered an entire article’s worth of talking points. This discussion—whilst interesting from a historical perspective—also contains invaluable information that you can apply to business, relationships, and life in general.
Let’s begin.
The Lean Mean Warfare Machine
Consider Weatherford’s description of the Mongol Army:
“In contrast to almost every major army in history, the Mongols traveled lightly, without a supply train… Instead of transporting slow-moving siege engines and heavy equipment with them, the Mongols carried a faster-moving engineer corps that could build whatever was needed on the spot from available materials.”
By maintaining a lean, hyper-efficient structure, the Mongols were able to move with greater speed and ferocity than their opponents, thus granting them a significant tactical advantage.
We see both ends of this spectrum in the modern market, from stripped-down startups exploding in value to the bloated leviathans that march slowly towards their inevitable death. In the world of business, you need small groups of smart people to optimize efficiency and effectiveness, but this information can be applied far more broadly as well:
Think of the man who becomes extremely proficient (and therefore valuable) in one or two fields compared to the man who spreads himself thin across many without gaining any real skill. Think of the woman with three close friends who gains more from these relationships than the woman with fifty loosely-held acquaintances or a thousand Instagram followers.
As Chris Williamson would say:
“You can be anything you want to be, but not everything you want to be.”
Think carefully about what really matters to you in life, and then be willing to compromise less-important things in pursuit of these few ideals. Once you have identified these values, they become the cargo of your internal army; make sure they’re useful, fulfilling, and yet not so heavy that they slow down your attack.
Think Different
Weatherford says this of Genghis Khan’s approach to warfare:
“Victory did not come to the one who played by the rules; it came to the one who made the rules and imposed them on his enemy.”
In all areas of life, we encounter pre-existing ideals of what should and should not be done, and—most of the time—they exist for good reason. In the competitive context, however, such rules can sometimes serve to dissuade potential competition from the people or business that currently hold control. Only a fool would unthinkingly ignore the wisdom of the past, but the same can be said of someone who unthinkingly believes it all.
By going against tradition in an intelligent, incremental manner, Genghis Khan was able to leverage his tactical genius and rise to great power in a short period. Although you’re unlikely to conquer as much land as he did (or sleep with as many women), that’s not to say this information isn’t useful to you.
In business, your competitors will have pre-established ways of doing things, and most of the time those ways will turn out to be the best. By developing a fundamental understanding of your field, however, you learn how to identify inefficiency in large systems, allowing you to capitalize on these opportunities and get ahead of others.
The Long Game
Genghis Khan was no stranger to cruelty: he grew up as an outcast, enduring slavery, terrible weather conditions, and hostility from within his own family. In fact, at the age of fourteen, he even went as far as killing his older half-brother as an act of self-preservation. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that this young boy fought hard for everyone ounce of expertise he amassed:
“At no single, crucial moment in his life did he suddenly acquire his genius at warfare, his ability to inspire the loyalty of his followers, or his unprecedented skill for organizing on a global scale. These derived not from epiphanic enlightenment or formal schooling but from a persistent cycle of pragmatic learning, experimental adaptation, and constant revision driven by his uniquely disciplined mind and focused will."
This is a repeating trend in great historical figures: even Richard Feynman, one of history’s most prominent theoretical physicists, reportedly had an IQ of just 125, which is notably low for someone of his intellectual stature:
“I was an ordinary person who studied hard. There are no miracle people.”
What set Feynman (and Genghis Khan) apart is their ability to work consistently, learn quickly, and persist over the long term.
Do not focus on how your skills measure up according to narrow-minded criteria or rigid analyses. Instead, focus on incrementally improving across time, and watch as your life transforms for the better. Unlike Genghis Khan, you’re unlikely to create the largest empire of all time, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do more than you ever thought possible.
As I finish reading the story of this ruthless conqueror, it’s possible that I’ll uncover another article’s worth of wisdom to share. The density of insight in the book’s initial chapters, however, was too much not to write about for the time being. For now, hopefully you can live your daily life slightly more like Genghis Khan, minus the killing, pillaging, and forceful acquisition of land…
Never stop thinking.
- Will