‘Find Hungry Samurai’: Team Building Lessons from a Japanese Master
‘Of course you’re afraid of the enemy. But don’t forget: he’s afraid of you too.'
‘Seven Samurai’
‘Seven Samurai’ is a 1954 epic drama set in sixteenth century Japan, co-written and directed by Akira Kurosawa.
A small village has been repeatedly ravaged by bandits, and the inhabitants learn that their tormentors plan to return after the harvest.
'Is there no god to protect us? Land tax, forced labour, war, drought and now bandits. The gods want us farmers dead!’
The villagers send a delegation into town to hire rōnin, masterless samurai, in the hope that they may provide some protection. Lacking money to pay for the warriors, the farmers are initially treated with contempt. However eventually they find Kambei, an experienced samurai with a noble spirit.
With his help they recruit six more men: a trusted former comrade, a youth who’s keen to learn, a taciturn master swordsman, an amiable strategist, a hearty joker and an enthusiastic fraud.
When the warriors arrive at the village they are greeted with suspicion. The locals’ previous experience of samurai has been violent and exploitative.
'All farmers ever do is worry, whether the rain falls, the sun shines or the wind blows. In short, all they know is fear.’
But the samurai gradually earn the villagers’ trust and they set about converting meek farmers into a fighting force. Soon the villagers are learning combat technique, battle tactics and how to operate as a unit.
'This is the nature of war: collective defence protects the individual; individual defence destroys the individual.’
Kambei surveys the village with a map, plotting where to expect the enemy assaults; where to build barricades and moats.
‘Defence is more difficult than attack.’
At length the stockades are constructed, the training is completed and the crops are harvested. The villagers begin to speculate that they may be lucky this time: perhaps the bandits won’t come after all.
'A tempting thought. But when you think you're safe is precisely when you're most vulnerable.'
Of course Kambei is right, and soon the hostilities commence. Central to his strategy is his intention to lure the bandits into the village one by one.
'A good fort needs a gap. The enemy must be lured in. So we can attack them. If we only defend, we lose the war.’
All goes to plan. The mounted bandits can only break into the village in ones and twos. And once inside they are picked off by groups of farmers armed with bamboo spears.
But the fighting takes its toll on the villagers too. With their strength fading and their numbers dwindling, they prepare for the final all-out attack. Kambei orders that the remaining thirteen bandits be allowed into the village all at once.
The magnificent climactic scene takes place in a torrential morning downpour. Confused horses twist and turn in the mud, stamping and snorting. Determined villagers crowd around desperate bandits, screaming their battle cries, goading them with their spears. Fearsome samurai wade in the water, swinging their swords, slashing through the enemy armour. It’s chaotic and brutal.
‘Seven Samurai’ was an international success and was adapted into the 1960 western 'The Magnificent Seven.’ It inspired many subsequent action and adventure films, and is credited with establishing the 'assembling the team’ motif that has become familiar in so many war, caper and heist movies.
‘Seven Samurai’ suggests lessons for anyone in business engaged in recruiting and managing a team.
Kambei didn’t just sign up the six most talented samurai. In the first place the villagers couldn’t afford them. But also he knew that the best individuals don’t necessarily make the best team. Rather Kambei recruited a balance of youth and experience, of strategic and fighting skills, of swordsmanship and archery. He embraced hard-nosed puritans and eccentric mavericks. He recognised the need for humour to build morale. And he drilled the team tirelessly before they faced the enemy.
I was particularly struck by the words of the village elder at the outset of the drama.
'Find hungry samurai. Even bears leave the forest when they are hungry.’
I couldn’t claim to have been the best leader of a Planning Department. But I was conscious of the need for diversity of skills and character; for building community and delivering value. And I tried to avoid the obvious hires - people with big reputations, big wage demands and low motivation. I liked to find talent in unfamiliar places; to fish in less popular ponds. I always hired people I liked, admired and trusted – people with appetite. I found hungry samurai.
Though the samurai emerge triumphant from the conflict, their victory comes at a heavy price. At the end of the film the three surviving warriors look on from the funeral mounds of their comrades as the villagers joyously plant fresh crops.
‘So. Again we are defeated. The farmers have won. Not us.’
'When you come to me
I'll question myself again.
Is this grip on life still my own?
When every step I take
Leads me so far away.
Every thought should bring me closer home.
There you stand making my life possible.
Raise my hands up to heaven,
But only you could know.
My whole world stands in front of me.
By the look in your eyes.
By the look in your eyes.’
David Sylvian,’ Brilliant Trees’
No. 299
