I’ve seen knights in armor panic at the first hint of battle. And I’ve seen the lowliest, unarmed squire pull a spear from his own body, to defend a dying horse. Nobility is not a birthright. It’s defined by one’s actions. -Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves (1991).
Nobility Academy promotes personal and professional nobility through story.
A Note From Our Founder:
Nobility Academy is a quest to define exemplary life and then move toward it. I acknowledge that this was an issue that I was wrestling with and Chris Gillebeau, author of Happiness of Pursuit, and his WDS tribe, inspired the Academy.
Over the past ten years as a lawyer, I observed that advising my clients and others about what the law is or the rules are simply was not enough. The law or rule might be a touchstone but the result is often better when I encouraged a focus shift to
- whatever is true,
- whatever is honorable,
- whatever is right,
- whatever is pure,
- whatever is lovely,
- whatever is of good repute,
- whatever is excellent, and
- anything worthy of praise.
As a quick example, I’ve lost count of how many meetings or phone conferences I have participated in where lawyers are discussing their fees. The conversations are rule or law dominated. Is this method best or that method best? I earned this. You can’t support that. Occasionally, someone would say, “with everything our clients have suffered, let’s reduce our fee or waive it.” That is excellent, that is noble.
Although personal gain may result from noble action, the “true hero does not undertake the journey for personal glory, but for the benefit of all.” (John Mackey, co-Founder and co-CEO of Whole Foods Market, Forward SQ21: The Twenty-One Skills of Spiritual Intelligence, Cindy Wigglesworth, Select books, ©2014)
Finally, the importance of story. I met Gerry Spence at his Trial Lawyers College. He asked me if I wanted to be a better lawyer. I, of course, said “yes.” “Then,” he replied, “you have to be a better you.” He doesn’t know it, but Gerry Spence and I have spent countless hours together over the past year and nine months. I have read every book he has published. I often ask him about things and sometimes he answers me. Gerry and his Trial Lawyer’s College convinced me to hone this story skill. There is no better way to communicate transcendent ideas than story. How can I expect to act nobly unless I think nobly? How can I expect to think noble if I never hear the story of nobility?
Nobility Academy is telling the story, the story of nobility.
Brandon L. Blankenship, August 2015.