Leadership Lessons from One Piece
Netflix released a live-action adaptation of the bestselling manga series in history, One Piece, on August 31st. I am not sure if I am ashamed or proud to say that I finished it less than one week after its release on September 6th. I found the series intriguing despite the happy-go-lucky and unrealistic rebounds of success from the protagonist, Monkey D. Luffy, and his team. This team builds and grows around Luffy and his charismatic leadership style. This particular aspect of the story really drew me in and caused me to watch with an academic lens. I do however, watch old cartoons from my childhood, so maybe I just enjoy watching childish television.
I will break down specific traits of Luffy’s leadership in the show which apply to true situations and deviate from traditional leadership intuitions. Beware, pirates (and spoilers) ahead!
Support your teammates dreams. When he meets a new teammate, Luffy asks them what their dreams are. He constantly reminds them of their dreams (and his), and he gives them opportunities to achieve their dreams. He knows that Nami has a dream even though she hides it. When he discovers that she dreams to save her hometown, he puts his life on the line to make it happen. Luffy has a moral crisis with his extreme support for his teammates’ dreams. Zoro chooses to duel the greatest swordsman to fulfill his dream of becoming number one. Zoro is not ready for the fight and Nami knows it, pleading Luffy to change Zoro’s mind. Luffy refuses, however. Zoro loses and almost dies, forcing the viewer to question the limits of supporting others’ dreams.
Don’t be the center of attention. After the last major battle of the season, Usopp starts telling an exaggerated (fictional, really) story of how he singlehandedly took down all of the Arlong pirates. In reality, Usopp had barely contributed and really only took out one difficult pirate. Sanji and Zoro took out many more pirates, and Luffy took care of Arlong — the deadliest of them all. Luffy decides to have a toast to Usopp and boldly declare that he was pivotal to their success in the fight. This humility and ability to boost up team members, even in their small victories, did not come easily to Luffy. Earlier in the show, he has a friendly quarrel with Usopp over who should design the Jolly Roger for the ship. Before that, Luffy comments, “they do know that I am the Captain, right?” He had heard Usopp indicate he was the leader instead of Luffy. It took Luffy time to set aside his ego and support Usopp despite their competition to lead the team.
Believe in yourself. When the clown pirates capture Luffy, Zoro, and Nami, Zoro confesses his newfound loyalty to Luffy. When a clown asks him if he really believes in Luffy, Zoro says, “he believes in himself. It rubs off.” In my previous two points, I recommend focusing on your team, but leaders are people too. As a leader, you have to focus on yourself as well. I recommend against Luffy’s constant restating, “I’m going to be King of the Pirates,” but his true belief that he can find the one piece draws in his followers. Luffy moves forward despite consistent adversity and failure. He fails and fails but continues towards his goal of finding the one piece.
Luffy leads his team with compassion. He wants everyone in the “straw hat pirates” to achieve their dreams. He makes an effort to understand their particular dreams rather than assume that everyone else has the same dream as him. Although he has to learn to set aside his ego, he boosts up his teammates because he cares about their goal. He believes in himself and his ability to achieve the goal.
