After seeing The Rise of Skywalker, say what you will about it, the movie was what it’s supposed to be. It was interesting, had great plot twists, had the happy ending and was entertaining. As such you’re going to have people on both sides of the fence because you have several target audiences you have to please. Incidentally, that was something Palpatine did very well, which I’ll get to later.
Nonetheless, what actually intrigued me was Palpatine himself. Understanding and appreciating the canon of Star Wars I’m going to make a statement I think many will agree with—Palpatine was the greatest Sith Lord ever. There’s no one that could do what he’s done save Darth Vitiate, the Sith who lived the longest (1,500 years) and actually ruled half the galaxy. Palpatine ruled the entire galaxy without ever being discovered. He was only discovered when he wanted to be which is a testament to well he controlled his brand.
Now I’m not saying that evil is good or any of that philosophical stuff. Seize the Brand has always operated on the value of extracting relevant and applicable principles from life to branding and business. Star Wars is entertainment, but like life, has principles savvy entrepreneurs can implement in their business to strengthen their brands. That being the case here are the six principles that will turn your brand into an “empire”. Muh ah ha ha!!!! SPOILER ALERT!
#1: Have A Vision
As brought out in the Darth Plagueis novel, from youth Palpatine had huge vision. He knew he wanted more for himself and from life. He also knew that it wasn’t coming from his home environment. So from the start he began creating and implementing a strategy that would put him in control of the entire galaxy.
You need to have the same scope. It’s not enough to just to be in business. Think small stay small. You need to have a grand, bold vision or else why get started? That doesn’t mean you have enact it, but the process of creating something big will get your mind thinking in ways you never would if your goal is to just stay small. Further, thinking this way gives you greater control on when you want to stop brand growth rather than frantically trying to stave off something worse.
Brands are built because they stand for something bigger than the individuals who run it. As a result, large brands have the ability to live on after the founder passes. The vision of a galactic empire lived on after Palpatine died through the First Order eventually becoming the Final Order. Even Kylo Ren said he wanted to finish what Darth Vader started, who himself was an integral part of building the first galactic empire.
Armed with a vision you have to search for the best place to realize said vision. Palpatine knew that he couldn’t rule a galactic empire from his home world of Naboo so he moved to where his brand could grow, space and the Senate. Entrepreneurship is a way out of a situation you don’t want to be in which is why it’s so empowering. But, you need to understand, accept and be ready to go where you feel the vision for your brand will best be realized. Once you do that you next need to understand who your target will be.
#2: Market Correctly To Your Target
Palpatine was ruling from both sides of the issue, the Federation and the Senate. What made him successful at it was that he made sure he marketed to both they way they wanted to be marketed to. As the leader of the Federation he was Lord Sidious, the dark lord of the Sith that’s to be feared and obeyed. He always portrayed himself to be in control and had his apprentices Darth Maul, Count Dooku and Darth Vader to enforce his will.
As the leader of the Senate he was Chancellor Palpatine, the wise, fair, open and benevolent leader, who only accepted great power because it was thrust upon him. He showed himself to work with all sides and did what’s best for democracy. Both sides never discovered the truth because they were never supposed to.
If you have only one target, count yourself fortunate that you don’t have to display the balancing act Palpatine did. For the rest of us who have a primary and secondary target this is a great lesson for you. You have to market yourself how your target wants to do business with you. Your target audiences’ have completely different reasons for coming to you and you have to appeal to them based on what’s important to them and them alone. While I’ve applied this with some of the touchpoints for my brand I’m not immune either and will be implementing adjustments to the more visible parts of my brand very soon.
Palpatine incorporates another successful principle in his marketing as well. This is the law of perception, based on the book, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing. That law states that your target perceives you a certain way and when you deviate from that perception or try to be perceived a different way you’ll fail. If Palpatine appeared just one time to the Senate as Darth Sidious it would’ve been over. This is because his target perceived him a certain way and to deviate from that would be brand suicide. No luxury brand sells a car under $40K and non-luxury brands have difficulty selling cars above $40K because of this law. If you want to grow your business into another branch or to another non-related target launch it as a new brand. Even when you do, things won’t go according to plan, which is why you need to do what Palpatine did.
As a business owner, things ARE going to go bad. But, it’s going to be your resolve to push yourself through those challenges that will help your brand grow. You can best do that if you equip yourself with contingency plans. I mean plans A-Z-99.
#3: Have Contingency Plans
This man could rival Batman with the number of contingency plans he had. If the Federation won the battle of Naboo in The Phantom Menace it would have grown his power, which aided his contingency plans in the Senate. Although the Federation lost that battle it still aided his growth of power continuing in The Clone Wars. He just continued enacting plan after plan growing his power on both sides. He even had contingency plans for his apprentices. He knew he wanted Anakin all along and just kept grooming him until the time was right. In the interim he had apprentices that were stronger with each new one. Dooku was clearly stronger than Maul and Anakin became stronger than Dooku.
What’s even greater and part of the reason why I think he’s the greatest Sith Lord, is that he had plans to continue his rule even after death. This was evident in creating Supreme Leader Snoke and the First Order. While the First Order grew in power he was already creating the Final Order with a massive armada that would ensure his power. He even had contingency plans in destroying the Jedi first through Order 66, which wiped out most leaving only Obi Wan, Yoda and a few others. Later Luke Skywalker would arise as Obi Wan died in the first Star Wars and Yoda died in Return of the Jedi. As the Jedi began to rise again with Luke he was manipulating Ben Solo to the dark side eventually becoming Kylo Ren. The entire time he was doing this he had plans to bring himself back from the dead if he wanted through Rey. I mean come on, you gotta give it to him.
As a business owner, things ARE going to go bad. But, it’s going to be your resolve to push yourself through those challenges that will help your brand grow. You can best do that if you equip yourself with contingency plans. I mean plans A-Z-99. You might say Palpatine’s plans failed, and to a degree they did, after all he’s the bad guy and bad guys can’t win in a movie.
There was a period of peace after the second Death Star was destroyed. Yet, he always “ruled” because when the First Order rose it’s power was immediately exerted and lacked real contestation. While we’re on this subject, notice the contingency plans he had with enforcing galactic rule. It was first through the Droid Army, the Clone Army, the First Death Star, the unfinished but fully functional second Death Star, Star Killer Base and multiple Star Destroyers. Each version a testament to the next point.
#4: Keep Improving Your Brand
Each weapon for enforcing galactic power was miles better than the first. This is because Palpatine learned from each iteration. The Droid Army could be deactivated so he made sure the next army couldn’t be by creating the Clone Army. The clone army had no will of their own so he would always be in control. Understanding rebellion will always exist he knew he needed to enforce his power and created the Death Star. Once the vulnerability of the first one was revealed he built a second one that could run before it was even completed. When that was destroyed he built something bigger and harder to be destroyed in Star Killer Base, an entire friggin’ planet that ate suns. It was only destroyed because Finn used to work there. After that he understood that a single massive weapon was too vulnerable he armed each destroyer with a planet-killing weapon. Cut off one head two more shall take its place, Hail Hydra. Sorry for mixing genres, I couldn’t help myself.
Palpatine was creating the new, better version before the previous became obsolete because that not doing so would mean an end to his power. Do you have that kind of vision?
Where your brand is now should be light years ahead, pun intended, of where it started first. Stop worrying about perfection and just get it out there. Improvements to your brand should come from enacting your vision and marketplace feedback. Innovation comes from creating what people want before they realize they want it. Doing so puts you in a position to cash in your chips and move onto the next phase of your life like Palpatine did.
#5: Have A Succession Plan
What I found interesting was that Palpatine was actually willing to let the next generation of Sith rule. This is in contrast to himself since in the Darth Plagueis novel he said to his master, Plagueis, that when he rose to power he never intended sharing it. This led to him killing his master and enacting the next stage of his plans. However, true to nature, Palpatine controlled who was going to succeed him through his bloodline—Rey. Thus, you should be asking yourself what’s your endgame?
Despite what you may think, you’re not going to run your business forever. You either quit while you’re ahead through selling, experience the death of your business because you didn’t change or you pass it along to the next generation. The key to the latter is, like Snoke, grooming your replacement. Palpatine, through Supreme Leader Snoke said that he was manipulating Rey. When Rey finally confronts Palpatine he tells her the truth that he never wanted to kill her, but have her rule the Sith and the galaxy as Empress (and the audience’s heart warms at a “loving” granddad wanting best for his grandchild, NOT!)
In order for you to have a successful transition out of your business you have to groom your replacement. That means training him or her on the various roles they’ll fulfill. Document everything in an Operations Manual (which you should be doing anyway) so that the person who takes over your business can successfully run and grow your brand. Brands are our babies and you’ll feel it emotionally if your business dies because you didn’t groom your successor right. This means you need to be doing something yourself in case that happens.
#6: Don’t Stop Improving Yourself
In Revenge of the Sith Palpatine seduces Anakin with the statement that a Sith Lord could cheat death. After turning Anakin he states that he doesn’t have that skill but they can learn together. However he was learning it all along but didn’t share it as a means of control. He kept improving that skill until he could manifest it at will, which he finally does in The Rise of Skywalker. His goal wasn’t to use this skill, but to have Rey succeed him. When she refuses he enacts another contingency plan by drawing the life force from both Rey and Kylo Ren, who now is back on the light side of the force as Ben Solo again. Now he has new life, basically saying, “if you don’t want to do it, fine I’ll do it myself, let me show you.”
You can’t stop improving yourself. The market demands it. Certain careers like those in education require it, but that doesn’t mean once you become the head of your business you’ve reached the Promised Land. Just like The Resistance there’s always a threat to your position in the marketplace. Your competitors stand ready, eager and waiting for you to make a mistake so they can take your spot. They will if you don’t continue improving yourself and your brand. What can you do?
Understand the strengths and weaknesses of yourself and your brand. Once you know where you’re weak personally fix it through reading, training and application. Once you know where your business is weak fix it through systems, training and client surveys.
The Galaxy Is In Your Hands
Much like the Star Wars universe the marketplace is vast, filled with peril and opportunity. If you apply these principles in your business, but more importantly, in yourself you’ll possess the power to rule the marketplace. A ha ha ha!
Until next time I wish you much success transforming your business into an amazing brand.
