The person standing next to you...

I mashed two scenes from the movie 300 to get this clip. In it, the hunchback approaches King Leonidas, the leader of the Spartans, wanting to serve as a soldier in the Spartan army. His father was a soldier, and he wants to redeem his ancestry, regaining honor for his family.

Thinking he's ready to fight, he approaches his king in full army regalia...

• He demonstrates that he can thrust a spear
• His heave his strong
• It appears he's ready to fight

But he's not

Leonidas beckons him, "Show me your shield... raise it... as high as you can."

The hunchback hesitates. Then, in vain, he struggles to lift it to his head.

Leonidas then tells him that the shield- a defensive weapon- is the key to the Spartan offense. "We fight as a single, impenetrable unit," Leonidas reminds him. Then- "That is the source of our strength."

The many who are one

It's the reason 300 men can defeat 30,000. They don't fight as 300 individuals; they hold the shields together and fight as a single, massive man- a great man that is larger and stronger and virtually unbeatable. In other words, the myth of the lone soldier sauntering through the battlefield and mowing down the enemy is just that... a myth.

Great soldiers come in groups. In teams.

"The shield," he says, "is the key to their phalanx," that is, to their offense.

You'll see it in the mash-up above. The Spartans allow the enemy soldiers to run at them. They halt them. They pull their shields together. They remain safe behind them.

"A single weak spot," the king coaches, "and the phalanx shatters..."

As one, they push the enemies off, thereby creating space between them and the enemy whereby they wield swords and spears and break the opposition down. As the enemy comes at them again, they rally and unite, bringing the shields together as one...

After digging in a second time, they heave the enemy away. And, in the time and space that is created, once again, as a single man, they strike...

Yes, the sword and spear and shield are as much a part of the man as the man himself, but, so is the man standing next to him. And the one standing on the other side.

The most important part of the Spartan's armor, then, is the people he stands with.  

Men's Advance

About every 4-6 months I head to the men's Advance. These events pull men together from all over the U.S. (and a few that slide in from Canada). Together, we don't retreat, we advance.

We move forward...

• As husbands
• As fathers
• As brothers
• As business leaders
• As teachers
• As natural health practitioners
• As whatever-else-it-is-that-we-do...

Oddly enough, every guy that comes (self-included) is damaged. Wounded. Carries battle scars. But the phalanx is strong because there's more power together than there is a solitary soldier.

These are the guys you call at 2am when you've got a problem. I've called them...

These are the guys you share your soul to, even when you feel others might shudder at what you say. These are the ones who realize we are all, like the Spartans, better together.

As, as the Spartan proverb goes, "The strength of the Spartan is the soldier next to him."  

Application?

Many people seek to figure out what they want to do (be a soldier,  run a business, or do something new for a career). Others go a step further and figure out how to do it (in the scene above, the hunchback clearly knew how to wield a sword and thrust a spear). However, the biggest question is not what or how or even why...

The biggest question, though, may be this: Who are you going to stand with? And who is standing with you?

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You may also like the online version of the Advance material. We call it The Ladder- and it's guaranteed to help you navigate from where you are to where you're designed to be.