Ronin Versus Samurai: Career Lessons from Medieval Japan

I have long been very open about my deep interest and love for all things Japanese. History, art, architecture. And the Food! The culture of craftsmanship, honor, discipline and self sacrifice. 

All exemplified by the samurai. Samurai which means warrior or knight whose sole purpose is to serve. 

“They were the well-paid retainers of the daimyo (the great feudal landholders). They had high prestige and special privileges such as wearing two swords. They cultivated the bushido codes of martial virtues, indifference to pain, and unflinching loyalty, engaging in many local battles. Though they had predecessors in earlier military and administrative officers, the samurai truly emerged during the Kamakura shogunate, ruling from c.1185–1333. They became the ruling political class, with significant power but also significant responsibility. 

During the 13th century, the samurai proved themselves as adept warriors against the invading Mongols. During the peaceful Edo era (1603 to 1868), they became the stewards and chamberlains of the daimyo estates, gaining managerial experience and education. (Source: Wikipedia)

Ronin were masterless Samurai. Actually in Japanese, it means Wave Man. It’s incredibly apt. A man left to surf the waves of change. According to Wikipedia:  “It is an idiomatic expression for "vagrant" or "wandering man", someone who finds the way without belonging to one place. The term originated in the Nara and Heian periods, when it referred to a serf who had fled or deserted his master's land. In medieval times, the Ronin were depicted as the shadows of samurai, master-less and less honorable. It then came to be used for a samurai who had no master (hence the term "wave man" illustrating one who is socially adrift).”

Fascinating stuff. But the thing that was interesting for me was the implications for the modern working world. Samurai thrived during times of stability, but it’s my guess that it’s the Ronin that thrived in the tumultuous chaotic times because they were more used to literally rolling with the waves of change to survive. Samurai were all about loyalty. A ronin was about survival because you served yourself. A samurai being a 9-5-er, corporate/government salaryman. A Ronin being a freelancer, startupper or entrepreneur. 

In stable economic times, it’s probably better financially and emotionally as an employee at a government institution or corporate. Be a samurai, you serve a lord and life in general is good and stable. The bigger the organization, the more you are hidden away from reality and market forces. 

But in times of massive change, I’d argue it’s better being an entrepreneur like a Ronin. By nature you are closer to the change and market, and hence get better data and info on what’s really going on, so you can adapt better. If you happen to be a salaryman at a big company such as IBM in the 1950s-1970s, where times were relatively calm, this was a great place to be. 

During the massive changes of the 1980s, after being hidden away for so long in the walls of Big Blue (nickname for IBM), workers there had no idea about the massive wave coming to wreck the business of your corporate master. A wave that would also inevitably wreck them financially as they were let go into a completely wild new working environment that they were totally unprepared for. Not sure if this analogy holds well. But it’s something I do think about. 

Perhaps it’s why the career advice parents give their kids tends to be so wrong most of the time. It is well-intentioned  and probably appropriate for when they grew up. But the world your children will grow up in has probably changed and this advice has become obsolete at best, dangerous at worst. It’s something I keep in mind for my kid. But if I am correct about the next half decade being incredibly tumultuous and volatile, you will be WAY better off thinking like a ronin than a samurai. Be a “wave man” and ride the waves of massive change coming.