HOUSEKEEPING 📨

I’ve been obsessed with leadership for a very long time, so today is a fun one. Today is one I think you’ll really like. This story I am about to tell really gets the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up straight. It’s up there with Al Pacino’s famous “inch by inch” speech from Any Given Sunday for me.

As I write this though it is 1:15am local time, so I am not going to bore you with too much housekeeping. So without further ado, here is my favourite leadership story on God’s green earth. Enjoy!

LEADER DEEP DIVE 🕵🏻

Starkian Leadership: The Story Of The King Who Knelt

Torrhen Stark, known as the King Who Knelt, was the head of House Stark, and reigned as King in the North until Aegon I Targaryen invaded Westeros with his dragons. Before the battle raged, Torrhen was named Lord of Winterfell, and Warden of the North after submitting to Aegon during the what would forever be knows as the War of Conquest.

Now before you start dusting off your Encyclopedia Britannica to figure out who Torrhen Stark is, I will spill the beans. He’s made up. Fictional. Make believe. Yes I know, it’s hard to believe I know thanks to this image created on Midjourney. Torrhen belongs to Game of Thrones lore.

But don’t let that discourage you from enjoying today’s post. Think of pages of Animal Farm, Brave New World, Dune, The Alchemist, and how many stories of leadership, bravery, and love, jump off the page at you.

Much ink has been spilled trying to call upon the better angels of our nature. So today we dive into King Torrhen’s story. A story of Starkian leadership, and why I believe this is the greatest leadership story ever told.

The (brand of the) Kings of Winter

Before diving into the story of King Torrhen, we want to talk about the power of brand. And in this case, the brand of House Stark. You see in the Game of Thrones—or for book readers, A Song of Ice and Fire—universe, House Stark reigned as Kings in the North for more than 8,000 years. Game of Thrones is set in a medieval, feudal society; meaning blood, death, violence, betrayal and war were on their doorstep more often than not.

To put it into perspective, the longest reigning dynasty in real life was Japan’s Yamoto Dynasty, spanning a paltry 2,600 years. The Windsor dynasty, now headed by King Charles the III, hasn’t yet reigned for 200 years and may all come tumbling down due to one of history’s most troubling interviews with a Prince who refuses to sweat.

Why were the Starks able to last so long at the top of their game in The North of Westeros? I’ll give you one guess. It’s starts with B and rhymes with sand. That’s right: brand.

What is a brand, and why does it matter

The term brand originates from the Old Norse word brandr, which means ‘to burn.’ It dates back to craftsmen would burn marks onto their products—think pottery, swords and livestock.

Today, brand is your money maker. It’s a large part of the reason why people buy from you, whether they know it or not. The best example of brand, and the one that I love the most, is Patagonia. Patagonia flex their brand muscle daily, fighting the good fight for the environment. And therefore people, like me, will pay $100 for an ill-fitting, sweat-inducing tee shirt, because it’s made from reclaimed smoothie cups.

And their followers do it again, and again, and again. Case in point, their famous Do Not Buy This Jacket campaign. In 2011, Yvon Chouinard told his marketing heads that during the upcoming Black Friday sales they were going to spend all of their marketing budget on an educational campaign about the need to curb consumerism. The result; a record high in sales for the Patagonia jacket.

The result is irrelevant because at the end of the day, their Patagoni-ites—from cold mountain hiker to Wall Street stock pusher—all agree that they would have done it if it sold no jackets at all.

Here are some mind boggling stats on brand when related to a company like Patagonia.

• Brand helps you attract better talent: Studies show (Cleartrace) that 70% of workers are more likely to apply to a sustainable company. Nearly half of those polled also said they would take a pay cut to work for an environmentally or socially responsible company.

• More innovation: Having higher levels of purpose drives innovation by up to 30% (Deloitte). Simply put, inspire your employees and they will work more creatively. Studies also show more innovative companies outperform the competition.

• Higher employee engagement: The average cost of disengaged employees is between $3,400 and $10,000 per year. This costs companies $350B per annum (Gallup) in the US alone. Buck the trend. Inspire your people and do better business.

• More appeal to your target market: Consumers prefer to buy goods from companies that reflect their values and beliefs when possible (Accenture). 62% of consumers polled said they would choose companies that aligned with their interests.

• Create a community: Brands who show a strong purpose in the eyes of consumers are recommended 4.5 times more to friends and family (Zeno Group) than brands without. Build impact and build yourself a pack of stark-raving fans.

• Outperform the market: Compelling evidence (EY) shows purposeful companies outperform the stock market by 42% and companies without a sense of purpose within their mission/vision underperform the market by an average on 40% across the board. 

Coming back our story of House Stark, how does a family remain in power for so long? Because they, like Patagonia, understand the power of brand. House Stark's brand, built on unwavering honour and the motto ‘Winter is Coming,’ resonates with their people. Much like Patagonia's commitment to environmental causes strikes a chord with their customers.

It's not just about the product or the rule; it's about embodying values that create a lasting connection. Just as people buy into Patagonia’s ethos, supporters of House Stark rally to their banner, not for the family's name, but for the ideals and legacy it represents.

Westeros and Aegon's Conquest

In year 1 AC, in the annals of Westerosi history, the stage was set for House Stark to prove their worth. To not only show their strength, but to also protect their people. As the conqueror Aegon rolled through the Seven Kingdoms one by one, he made his way to The North, and Winterfell, ready to have King Torrhen swear fealty—or die by dragon fire.

Torrhen’s battlefield dilemma

King Torrhen Stark, was a hardened son of the North, from the hardest of Northern families. And as a Northener, he knew that his people—the 30,000 screaming warriors behind him—wanted him to go in to battle. But what he also knew was that if he did fight, it was quite likely that he and all of his people would die together out there on the battlefield.

For 8,000 years his family had reigned as the Kings of Winter. And for every one of those 8,000 years, the idea of bending the knee peacefully, and laying down your crown, would be seen as the most craven of acts. An act deeming you unfit for the status your family, and unfit to sit at the table of your forefathers in the afterlife. He had to choose between his pride, and his people.

So on this cold Northern day, as his troops prepared for the attack, King Torrhen made his way out onto the field of battle, and knelt at the Conqueror’s feet. He laid down the ancient crown of the Kings of Winter, swearing to be Aegon’s man, rising as Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North. A king no more.

From that day forward, Torrhen Stark would always be remembered as ‘the King Who Knelt.’

So, was Torrhen a hero? Or a craven, a coward, a disgrace? History doesn’t paint the full picture in-universe. It’s murky, to some he is a hero, and by some he is truly reviled. Even our real world internet is split on the decision, as the debate still rages across Reddit, Quora and other pockets of the internet.

If you read the intro to this piece, you know where I sit. The story of the King Who Knelt is my favourite leadership story ever told. The ultimate act of selflessness and doing what is right, under the most immense societal pressures. This is what it means to be a leader, and this is why the banner of House Stark is as strong as ever before, hundreds of years hence.

How you can apply Starkian leadership

There are many jobs of a leader, but the primary job of a leader is to lead. Let’s take a look at some of House Stark’s most famous lines and how you might apply them in your day-to-day.

Make tough calls: Being a leader is about showing an example. Don’t ask the troops to do the dirty work for you. Be in the trenches. If there is a call to be made, whether it's pivoting a product direction or making tough personnel choices, make it yourself. Your team will respect you for it.

• Recommended reading: The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz, Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink and The Art Of War by Sun Tzu.

Think strategically, not just tactically: There is no use winning every battle, but losing the war. Think in decades. In startups and technology, it's easy to get caught up in immediate victories—successful launches or hitting quarterly targets—but never lose sight of the long-term vision and sustainability of the business.

• Recommended reading: Principles by Ray Dalio and Good Strategy/Bad Strategy by Richard Rumelt.

Be a learning machine: Starting out in business, it’s unlikely you can outthink the competition. But if you stay curious, read often, and give yourself time to learn, you set yourself up for massive success.

• Recommended resources: 100+ Greatest Business Books Database, Ultimate Investor Letter Database and Essential Startup Reading Database.

Be bold, be brave: Leadership is not for the faint of heart. Bravery in business is about making decisions and taking risks even though you don’t have all the data, and the outcome is uncertain.

• Recommended reading: Shoe Dog by Phil Knight, Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson and Loonshots by Safi Bahcall.

Be forever the optimist: Running an organisation is about planning for the best, but preparing for the worst. Though, as a leader, you must stay positive. How you behave and the energy you show will radiate through your people.

• Recommended reading: Antifragile by Nassim Taleb and Mindset by Carol S. Dweck.

Build a culture that will outlive you: Whether you are at an organisation for 1 year or 10 years, do your best to build a legacy through culture. The strength of the team and collective effort is what leads to survival and success.

• Recommended reading: How To Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie, Start With Why by Simon Sinek and The Score Takes Care Of Itself by Bill Walsh.

In closing

There you have it folks; a leadership story right out of your favourite HBO series. But although it’s a fictional tale, I hope the story inspired you in some way. I hope it made you think deeply about who you look at for leadership inspiration. I know for me it did. I was so inspired by this story that I made the corporate motto of my startup Athyna, ‘What would Ned Stark do?’

Every year at our Winterfell Awards, I tell the story of Torren, and what it means to be a leader. And I finish by announcing our final award, to the person who acted the most selflessly, and was the ultimate team player for the year. The employee truly deserving of receiving the vaulted ‘Torrhen’s Crown’ award.

Extra reading

• Let My People Go Surfing - Yvon Chouinard, 2005

• Don’t buy this jacket, Black Friday & the New York Times - Nov, 2011

• Was Torrhen Stark A Coward, Reddit - 2021

And that's it! I hope you enjoyed our story on the leadership style of House Stark, you can find more deep dives business stories like this one here.