From Blueprints to Black Belts: How Jiu-Jitsu Redefined My View of Leadership

If you’ve ever led a company, you know what pressure feels like.
Deadlines. Demanding clients. Tough decisions. Long nights.
That tension never really goes away; you just learn to navigate it better.

For years, I searched for the perfect way to build resilience and unity within my team at Encompass. We’d done the typical team-building activities, trust falls, retreats, dinners, but none of them created the lasting connection or awareness I was after. They were surface-level. Fun, but fleeting.

Then one day, it hit me while watching my son train in Jiu-Jitsu.

This wasn’t just a sport; it was a lesson in strategy, composure, and awareness. Every move had an intention. Every decision requires balance. You couldn’t win through brute force; you had to win through presence, timing, and adaptability.

And that’s when I realized: Jiu-Jitsu is leadership in motion.

Why I Brought My Team to the Mat

We design and build luxury homes in the Cayman Islands for some of the most discerning clients in the world. These clients expect excellence; they expect precision and emotional intelligence.

Our team has to think fast, adapt under pressure, and collaborate seamlessly. In many ways, every project feels like a sparring match. You’re always reading the room, reacting to unseen challenges, and trying to create harmony in high-stakes situations.

So instead of another leadership retreat or workshop, I brought my entire team to a local Jiu-Jitsu gym. For six weeks, we learned, sweated, and stumbled through the basics together.

At first, it was awkward. But then something incredible happened. The lessons we learned on the mat started showing up in our meetings, our projects, and our communication.

We weren’t just learning to defend ourselves. We were learning to lead better.

Lesson One: Strategy Beats Strength

In Jiu-Jitsu, the person with the most muscle doesn’t win. The person with the best strategy does.

You can use all your strength to force a move, but if your angles are wrong or your timing is off, you’ll exhaust yourself before you ever find success.

It’s the same in business.
As leaders, we often confuse motion with progress. We work harder, push longer, and pile on more hours, thinking effort alone guarantees success.

But what if we’re just fighting harder instead of fighting smarter?

Leadership requires clarity, not chaos. It’s about seeing the angles others miss and adjusting before the pressure breaks you.

The strongest leaders don’t dominate the room; they direct the flow.

Lesson Two: Control Is Not Leadership

This one hit me personally.

As a builder and CEO, I used to think I needed to control everything. Every plan. Every detail. Every outcome. I thought that was a strength.

But on the mat, control doesn’t create victory; it creates rigidity. The tighter you grip, the easier you are to throw.

In leadership, it’s the same. When you micromanage your people, you choke their growth. You stop them from thinking independently and solving problems creatively.

True leadership means creating systems, culture, and people who can perform without you hovering over them.

The day I learned to loosen my grip, my business grew faster, my team performed better, and I finally got my peace back.

Lesson Three: Pressure Is a Privilege

No one likes pressure, but pressure is what builds great leaders.

In Jiu-Jitsu, being under pressure teaches you to breathe, think, and adapt. You learn not to panic when someone is on top of you. You learn to wait for the right opportunity instead of reacting emotionally.

The same is true in business. Every email, client challenge, or internal issue creates a moment of choice: react or respond.

When leaders stay calm under pressure, their teams mirror that energy. When leaders panic, everyone around them panics too.

The best leaders don’t avoid pressure; they learn to manage it with precision and purpose.

Lesson Four: It’s Not About Winning Every Round

In Jiu-Jitsu, you don’t win every match. You get tapped out. You fail. You learn. Then you get back up and do it again.

Leadership is no different.
You won’t always make the right call. You’ll lose deals. You’ll misread people. But if you keep showing up, staying present, and learning from every round, you’ll always come out stronger.

It’s not about being invincible. It’s about being intentional.

Lesson Five: Leadership Is a Practice

After six weeks of training, my team and I walked away with more than sore muscles and a few bruises. We walked away with perspective.

We realized that leadership is a practice, not a position.
You can’t master it by reading a book or attending a seminar. You master it by showing up every day, staying grounded, and refining your reactions to life’s challenges.

Jiu-Jitsu reminded us that every problem has leverage. Every obstacle has an escape. And every leader, no matter how experienced, has something new to learn.

That mindset changed everything.

A Final Reflection

Business Jiu-Jitsu isn’t about fighting. It’s about flowing.
It’s about learning when to apply pressure and when to ease off.
It’s about knowing that strength without strategy is wasted energy.

When you stay calm under pressure, trust your systems, and lead with intention, you create something much more valuable than profit: you create culture.

And that, to me, is the real mark of leadership.

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