Komby in 14 Steps: Step 13: Like a Dragon, Be water, my friend

In Hong Kong, on the Avenue of Stars in Tsim Sha Tsui — facing the harbour, not in Wan Chai — in front of the Bruce Lee statue, a guide said three words: entrepreneur, peaceful, silent fighter, philosopher. That scene belongs to the same stay as my night anchor in Wan Chai. Under build pressure, the seed became Like a Dragon.

Bruce Lee said: "Be water, my friend." Take the shape of the vessel. Flow or strike depending on the moment. Linda and Shannon still carry that philosophy (Be Water, My Friend). The water keeps flowing. I told myself I had to act that way to handle the uncertainties of life.

On my first business trip to Hong Kong, my hotel was on the Harbour Bay side, facing the harbour. The day was meant for meetings with my development team, on the 33rd floor, overlooking the bay. Instead, a force-10 typhoon. The hotel shut its doors; the boardroom gave way to storm tracking on a screen. (The video.) Business plans one day, weather the next: in my life as a CEO, I never get bored. Be water, in other words.

Bruce Lee, compass

Born in San Francisco, raised in Hong Kong, then trained in the United States too: from one shore to the other, without letting a single country lock him in. He opened his own schools — Seattle, Oakland, Los Angeles — and founded Jeet Kune Do, not as one more style to copy, but by refusing to bend to traditional martial arts. When Hollywood closed the door on him, he built elsewhere — first with Raymond Chow and Golden Harvest, then with Concord Production, where he held the creative, the risk and the control all at once. The Way of the Dragon, Enter the Dragon: entrepreneur to the end.

That trajectory spoke to me. You can be several things if you refuse the single mould. And Concord reminded me you can hold the creative and the risk without waiting for a funding round to validate you.

The trial: rigidity costs

When the market hits, the natural reaction is to harden. Often, it's suicidal.

I kept features out of pride when they contradicted Make It Easy. I sent emails too fast and burnt deals. I wanted to lock everything down, until mistakes cascaded. Each time, rigidity broke more surely than the blows.

What I lacked was fluidity: releasing a fixed form without releasing the fight. Water doesn't break like concrete.

At one point in the company, I had a clear vision, a limited envelope and a small team. Staying alive and free at that size, without stiffening: that is where the Little Dragon lesson became a tool.

Why this title

Composing was turning that lesson into something I could replay when my head wanted to harden. Sharing was holding it out to those who confuse tenacity with concrete.

Without this step, The Undertaker would be a concrete arena. With it, you enter differently: you change shape, and you stay.

Letting it land

Komby builds a bit like Lee built: yourself first, action next, fluid form. You can want for a long time. What counts is to act.

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Alexandre Auger, CEO of Komby

*Step 13/14. Previous: CEO (12). Next: The Undertaker (14)*