Business in BJJ: The Big Bad Wolf

I'm afraid of the Big Bad Wolf--and we have a massive one right now in the world of Jiu Jitsu.

In this case, as with most, I'm more afraid of the concept than I am the individual. There's something detrimental about having an obvious bad guy...the Chris Browns, Bernie Madoffs, Lloyd Irvins and Snidely Whiplashes of the world, even in their downfalls, create problems much more far-reaching, and much more difficult than we'd like to think. They allow us to think that wrong is distant, impersonal and easily contained. They allow us to think that wrong is an "other". They allow us to cozily and comfortably forget John Lennons, the Levites, and even those annoying little bits of ugliness that live inside us.

I am glad, proud, relieved and thankful to see the reaction that parts of the BJJ community has had to our recent scandals. I am even more so though, to see that it is giving birth to reform and alternatives...efforts and movements that will hopefully contribute in doing away with the communal factors that allow evils like the ones we're seeing play out in our community to flourish like they have. 

The most recent I've seen are the efforts of Tom Callos in sharing his decades of martial arts experience in guiding martial arts school owners in more ethical business management. It's kicking off with a free conference call. More details to come on his Facebook page.

Throw in the simple, yet easily overlooked act of unsubscribing from LI email lists , and any list that uses similar types of marketing (list of participants below taken from this link over at Sherdog) and the wolf isn't looking quite as scary.