Growing up I was privileged to be part of the scouting movement. It had such a profound effect upon me that it is still something I am involved with to this day.
Being in America right now, typically I would be involved in assisting with the annual summer camp. Missing the event this year due to me being overseas, it got me thinking about how scouting has influenced my life.
Scouting had a major impact on me — being half Lithuanian and half Australian — I was lucky to be part of the Lithuanian Scout Movement in Australia. This was formed as part of the Scouts-in-exile, an occurrence caused by the events of World War II — when international scouting organisations were disconnected from the central hub in Britain during the 1940s.
Under Hitler’s occupation of Europe — scouting was banned and replaced with the notorious Hitler Youth, something many historians believe was directly based as a Nazi response to the success of the global scouting organisation in relating to the younger portion of society.
The Lithuanian Scouts has always given me the opportunity to connect with both parts of my culture in a respectful way whilst giving me a wider respect for the environment and resource conservation.
Since I missed the event this year it got me thinking; how does scouting have an impact on my wider life at large and particularly in a business sense. As a result I looked at the top 10 scouting laws I was taught and here are the results…
A Scout is straight forward and keeps their word.
Couldn’t think of anything more practical for day-to-day business. Those who are direct and true to their word are always the most respected.
A Scout is faithful to God and Motherland.
Rather than God, I believe faith to a universal sense of good makes this principle applicable to people of all faiths. Loyalty to your home country however is valuable when trying to make business connections especially overseas — but this can also inhibit people from networking or taking expansion opportunities due to cultural barriers.
A Scout is useful and helps neighbours.
A sense of generosity internally with co-workers and other companies who share the office space can lead to positive outcomes. As well as this, helping people in general can open more doors than it closes.
A Scout is a friend to neighbours and is a brother or sister to other Scouts.
Similar to the point above
A Scout is polite.
Politeness and civility are the best capital ever invested in business. Large stores, gilt signs, flaming advertisements, will all prove unavailing if you or your employees treat your patrons abruptly. The truth is, the more kind and liberal a man is, the more generous will be the patronage bestowed upon him. P.T Barnum
A Scout is a friend of nature.
In this day and age where climate change is an ever increasing concern and animal welfare standards continue to decline this is increasingly important.
A Scout obeys parents and the authorities.
I haven’t been the best at this point — but a respect for structure and procedures can allow you to supercharge your work efforts by keeping everyone on side and finding efficiencies in your common daily tasks
A Scout is lively, does not lose both self-control and hope.
Discipline is extremely important and determination to succeed can drive us all to new heights. Most entrepreneurs have a never give up mentality.
A Scout is thrifty.
Making the most of what you can with limited resources. This is extremely true for lean startups or bootstrapped startups who need to conserve spending and grow naturally (or organically in industry terms)
A Scout is sober and chaste in mind, words and actions.
Purity of heart allows you to be driven and motivated by concepts that are in-sync with your key values. You should work for organisations and people which directly mirror your values to get the best results
Have a look at the above points — its not too late to become a scout :)