About a year ago I decided to take up boxing. Pictured here is me with my boxing trainer Kyle at his gym The Cave. After reading that first sentence, you might well be wondering “what business does a 50 year old university professor and practicing lawyer with 4 kids have taking up boxing”? Good question! In fact this is exactly the question that my wife Jenny asked me. Hopefully, this post will explain my reasons and why this matters.
Now while it’s true that I’m regarded by some as an expert on privacy and cybersecurity, I am a complete novice at boxing. It’s nice to be a beginner sometimes; when you’re learning, you’re not expected to know everything. When you’re a subject matter expert, then pretty much the only way you can refine your knowledge about the topic is by teaching and applying it.
Both teaching and learning, knowledge acquisition and knowledge application require motivation and enthusiasm – A willingness to question and seek answers to those questions.
If I were pressed to explain my motivation to take up boxing I would say that I’ve always been inspired by the Rocky movies and I wanted the experience of getting into the ring before it was too late. Plus, my kids are even less experienced than I am, and have yet to figure out that I’m not a pro-fighter, so I have that going for me.
[As an aside I should note that however incensed I have felt with the Americans over the unjustified trade war we are currently experiencing, I remind myself that they did gift the world Rocky Balboa and Apollo Creed]
Not that I’m into cosplay, but as part of my training motivation, I purchased a red beret for my wife for $15 on Amazon and had her show up at the gym to pick me up. It was my “Yo Adrian, I did it” moment, and apart from my kids being born that day was the greatest day in the history of my life!
With that out of the way, here’s what I learned about business and the classroom from my very limited time in boxing.
Boxing and Business
Mike Tyson famously remarked that “Everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the face.” He could just as easily be talking about business plans; every entrepreneur has a business plan, until they are met by market forces. This is when you and your plans are tested. While some boxers, trash talk their opponents, and some business people brag about their skills, products and services. Ultimately, talk is cheap, action is want counts. Business, like boxing is a full contact sport. It requires strategy, agility, speed and co-ordination.
Surprisingly, the scariest thing I’ve experienced in boxing is not getting hit. It’s landing what you think was your best punch and your opponent keeps coming. In the last round of Rocky 1 there’s a scene where Apollo floors Rocky for what he thinks is the last time. The look of Apollo’s face when Rocky gets up and beckons him on is one of pure disbelief. Here’s the LINK It never fails to inspire!
There have been times when I’ve felt I’ve given all I have, and nothing is working out. But you have to get up or you will be held down permanently. A lot of time in Higher Education is spent getting students to realize their potential, but we spend almost no time having students reflect on their limitations. This is unfortunate because by knowing your limitations, you’ll be able to get assistance from the right people. This is crucial in business. You can’t be everything to everyone and you can’t do it all.
It’s also important in boxing to know your weight class and current ability. Punching above your weight class is likely to get you killed. Business is seldom a level playing field so it’s important that you pick the market you want to compete in with discernment. In my case, I used to think that working for a big law firm was the only way to be a ‘real lawyer.’ No shade on big law; I work with them a lot and they’re really great, but I do not fit that mold. It’s OK not to have the corner office as long as you like the office that you’re currently in. There is a certain amount of conformity in any profession of course, and it takes a long time and a lot of trial and error to find your way and make it your own. But your professors/mentors can help you with that. If you ask and apply their feedback!
Boxing and safe spaces
To call my 2-minute bouts with my boxing trainer Kyle sparring would be a stretch. It’s more like me trying to hit him with everything I have and him dodging my punches like Neo in The Matrix. Kyle is a pro-boxer. When I get in the ring with him I become acutely aware of my own limitations; he could easily take me out with one punch, but does not. He’s a controlled, disciplined fighter. He’s great at teaching, and I’m there to learn. It got me thinking about the university classroom and safe spaces
A boxing ring in a local gym can be regarded as a safe space. Although the aim is to punch your opponent, you’re also there to improve. There’s a respect cultivated in any combat sport at least at the amateur level. Sadly, this civility has declined in recent decades at the professional level, with lots of hype, showboating and disrespectful behaviour. I’m still on the fence as to whether Jake Paul is good for the sport. He’s great at marketing, but somehow it’s a race to the bottom.
You see this trend in the legal profession and academia. Albeit with less glitz and showmanship. The inexorable rise of social media and internet communications technology has a tendency to amplify everything both the good and the bad. While some professors can be petty and some lawyers are mean, the vast majority are great people. But you still have to deal with difficult people in business and in life and this can be both anxiety-inducing and uncomfortable. Facing the truth or the reality of the situation can be a bitter pill to swallow, but we don’t want the medicine because it makes us feel bad.
One institutional response to this discomfort in higher education is to ensure that the classroom is a safe space. While there’s no agreed-upon definition of the term ‘safe space’ the concept aspires to promote toleration, respect and acceptance of others. The intention is good in principle, but leads to bad results in practice. Ideas in a classroom can either be fired in the crucible of doubt or cultivated in the petri-dish of wokeness. When classrooms are safe spaces, students and professors can simply ignore the parts of reality they don’t like. But this invariably results in a weakening of character and a dilution of truth.
In contrast, there’s no lying in boxing. If your guard is down, you are going to get hit. That’s not a bad thing; it’s something you needed to correct. It’s feedback that you will respond to immediately – or else risk getting hit again. At some level, you appreciate your opponent for pointing it out.
In the arena of ideas however the feedback loops are more attenuated. It can take decades for a bad theory to be thoroughly discredited; by that time, they have plagued policy-making and harmed many lives in the process. Similarly, businesses that appear profitable can run on credit for a long time before they go bankrupt. Truth can be painful, but avoiding it won’t make it go away. I don’t claim to have all the answers, but in research having the courage to ask the question is what matters. Strengthening the student in this regard and enabling them to defend their ideas without becoming defensive is arguably the highest calling of any professor.
Conclusion
The knowledge that we gain from life experience is necessarily embodied. We can’t all be Rocky, and the world is not all sunshine and rainbows. Just remember that ‘it’s not about how hard you hit, it’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward’
That is how winning is done!
Rajen Akalu
647 299 5079
rajen@akalulaw.com
