Captain’s List — Makoto Nagano #100

Corsair’s Profiles in Leadership Series

The captains of fiction and history have much to teach us. They are leaders who often serve in times of great challenge and turmoil. Articles in this series focus on an individual captain and utilizes their quotes, their writings, and their actions to inspire core leadership elements in all of us.

Captain Makoto Nagano

We have featured fictional characters and superheroes in this series. We have also examined Emperors and Field Marshals as they passed through the ranks of Captain. This article on Makoto Nagano is a bit different than any of those others. Nagano is not a fictional character but, at least in Japan, he is a bit of a superhero. If his name sounds familiar, you are likely a fan of Ninja Warrior (Sasuke in Japan).

Makoto Nagano is, in fact, the captain of a fishing vessel. He is more well known as a Sasuke All-Star and Champion of Ninja Warrior. When it comes to leadership, he has a few things to teach us.

Training

Fans of Ninja Warrior will be well aware of the nature of that competition. For those who aren’t, it is an obstacle course on steroids. Contestants compete to complete four challenging levels. Obstacles test speed, endurance, upper body strength, and agility with an array of challenges that vary from season to season and level by level. Many of these are also timed.

Through dozens of seasons of the show, only four contestants have ever completed the full course. Nagano is one of those four and in a separate attempt, failed the final level by only 0.11 seconds. Clearly it is a daunting task and one that requires a considerable amount of training.

While training is a sometimes overlooked attribute of professional development, especially outside of sports, it is also rarely associated with leadership. Nagano’s innovative training techniques are an inspiration to Sasuke competitors and an iconic component of Ninja Warrior. Business leaders should strive to become role models in this same light.

Ingenuity

While today an entire industry has risen to train potential contestants and Ninja Warrior enthusiasts, this was not an option in those early years for the Captain of the Konpira Maru. So the King of Sasuke got creative. Nagano reportedly trains more than 300 days a year — on his boat! How is that for a little ingenuity?

Free Running or Parkour, as the sport is known, is widely viewed as a novel and versatile sport. Enthusiasts often use urban landscapes for their stunts and training, but Nagano is likely one of only a few who ever did so on a fishing boat. The wide availability of ropes on his ship was likely a huge advantage for competition and may explain why the first two men to finish Sasuke were both fishermen.

Ingenuity is more than just an attribute for your development team. Leader’s need to showcase this sort of talent as well. A leader who is undaunted by challenges and finds creative means to overcome them will inspire their teams to do the same. This ingenuity will quickly provide a competitive advantage for you as well. Nagano’s example is one that should inspire, it certainly did among the Sasuke All-Stars.

Training and ingenuity are important but often overlooked assets for leaders. The Sasuke competition emphasizes the advantages provided by those who excel at both. Nagano may go down in history as that sports greatest competitor. He is certainly likely to maintain his title as king. But what ever the case, this fishing boat captain is an excellent role model in leadership.