Empowered Meritocracy, Politics and the Martial Arts
Empowered Meritocracy, Politics and the Martial Arts
How do you create a great martial arts school?
This is a question that I have been focused on for well over 15 years. When I first started teaching, I thought it was simply dedication to the art, great skill, and a passion for teaching that made a school successful. At 17 years old, no one even mentioned the word ‘culture’ in my training. While these are essential factors, as I came to learn, they are not everything.
In this post, I would like to highlight the possibilities within martial arts while also exposing the predictable traps that life, ego, and human nature create. These pitfalls can hinder growth, and I’ve encountered many myself. It takes time and experience to develop the wisdom to see them clearly, but by understanding them, we can stay true to the essence and beauty of martial arts. And ultimately, enjoy our training and development in this brief journey we call life.
One of the main reasons I write these posts is to help those seeking more from their martial arts journey—whether teachers looking to evolve their schools, students looking to step up to the next level, or prospective students searching for the right martial art school for them.
The Extreme Nature of Life
In life, there are positives and negatives, and the truth often lies in between. The Buddhist principle of the Middle Way offers a practical example of this philosophy, recognising that life is a constant pendulum swing between extremes. This phenomenon is evident in politics, nature, and human behaviour—a natural counterbalance where excess in one direction gives rise to an opposing force.
Nature itself demonstrates this balancing act. If a predator species grows too dominant, it eventually diminishes due to resource scarcity, allowing prey populations to rebound. This cyclical movement reflects the necessity of equilibrium. In martial arts, this philosophy manifests in the concept of the centre line—a guiding principle in Wing Tsun that teaches focus on one’s own path rather than getting drawn into unnecessary conflicts. It encourages avoiding extremes and staying true to one’s personal journey.
The Balance Between Meritocracy and Entitlement
There are two extremes in a martial art culture: one where rewards are distributed to everyone regardless of effort—akin to declaring all participants in a race as winners—and another where success is based solely on connections and incumbency rather than ability. The middle way here is what I call Empowered Meritocracy.
A well-functioning meritocracy, particularly in martial arts, is an empowered one. True progress comes from effort, discipline, and mastery. Scientific studies and workplace psychology echo this reality—people derive the most motivation from a sense of progress in meaningful work. Dr. David Rock’s SCARF model highlights five key motivators in human behaviour: status, certainty, autonomy, relatedness, and fairness. Yet, underlying all of these is the fundamental need for purpose and growth.
What is an Empowered Meritocracy?
Empowered Meritocracy rests on six key principles:
Equality of Opportunity – Everyone is given the same opportunity and treated with the same desire, no matter who they are or when they join.
Inspiration Over Motivation – The teacher's job is to inspire, not to constantly motivate. Inspiration means the student wants to progress themselves, whereas motivation requires the teacher to expend their own finite energy. The role of a teacher is to provide the tools, opportunities, and environment for students to become self-driven.
Matching the Student’s Energy – A student’s progress should be met with equal enthusiasm by the teacher. If a student wants to progress quickly, they should be supported at that pace, but the teacher does not force speed upon everyone. Instead, the teacher sets a cadence, a standard, and a threshold, while remaining available to accelerate when the student is ready.
Practicing Mastery – Teaching should involve proven mastery formulas and psychological principles that facilitate self-driven learning, including feedback and the importance of lifelong learning. Students should be given the tools to develop, practice, and improve independently, ensuring sustainable growth. At the same time, each student must take ownership and accountability for their progress—understanding it is their own to achieve, not something handed to them.
Keeping the Door Open – Everyone progresses at different speeds in life. Some may wish to push themselves intensely at certain times, while others may need to take a slower path. The key is to always provide opportunities and support, without ever doing the work for them. Otherwise, a codependent dynamic emerges, which disempowers students.
Community Collaboration – An Empowered Meritocracy is not just about the teacher-student relationship but also about peer learning and the role of the community in fostering progress. The concept of the Kung Fu family is central—everyone is on their own individual path, yet they support one another in their journey. True progress in martial arts requires training partners and mutual support, as mastery is not achieved in isolation. Within this model, fellow students are seen as collaborators, not competitors, reinforcing the idea that by helping others improve, we collectively raise the standard of the school and ourselves.
Teacher as a Guide, Not a Gatekeeper
A good teacher fosters this environment by acting as a guide rather than a gatekeeper. When students enter a school, a great teacher takes the time to coach them, understand their goals and learning styles, and mentor them. The essence of Wing Tsun is that almost anyone can achieve a high level if they have the right guidance and are given the space to grow.
The Role of Student Responsibility
While a teacher plays a crucial role, the student also has a responsibility—to turn up with the intention to learn. If a teacher has any bias, it is towards students who are engaged and eager to improve. Life inevitably presents challenges, and no one’s path is smooth, but true growth comes from the commitment to improving despite setbacks.
The Responsibility of Elders in Upholding Culture
A school's culture is not solely the responsibility of the teacher—it must be upheld by the seniors within the school. The Sifu sets the tone, and their actions must align with their words because nothing undermines a culture more than hypocrisy. If a leader says one thing but does another, the culture crumbles.
However, a culture is not sustained by the Sifu alone. It is the responsibility of the elder students to ensure that the culture thrives even when the teacher is not present. In business, culture is often defined by what people do when the leader is not around. The same applies in martial arts—what happens in the training hall when the Sifu is absent reveals whether the culture is truly embedded or merely performative.
When It Goes Wrong
You’ve now read how to create a great martial arts school. But that doesn't mean this always happens. You can hear more about my journey in our podcast, where I talk about the challenges I faced and how I was held back at times by the jealousy and insecurity of others. This isn’t to put them down, but to illustrate something fundamental: the role of the teacher is critical in maintaining the integrity of a school. And this is no easy task. No one gets it right all the time—everyone makes mistakes. I’ve made more mistakes than I can count. I listened to the wrong mentors and guides, and I’ve tried things that didn’t work. But it took me a long time to realise how to develop the right culture.
One example from my own experience was when I was training Wing Tsun intensively at the age of 17. I was paying for five private lessons a week while my training partner was doing three (we were both seriously committed). I had to leave for a short time with my family and missed a grading. When I returned, my training partner had been awarded six grades at once, advancing from Intermediate to Advanced in one leap. When I asked my teacher when I could catch up, I was told the rules had suddenly changed and that grading in that manner was no longer allowed—despite it happening just two weeks prior. This was a clear example of inconsistency and favouritism, which hindered fair progression. I was so determined that I stayed, but I have seen students leave for less intense reasons.
Another example from when I was running a number of successful schools was not having appropriate culture standards. The biggest mistake I ever made was accepting a relatively senior student from another organisation who had a much more subversive culture. It literally created havoc within the school and took a very long time to correct. The price is very high when the teacher gets it wrong, which is why it’s so important to have a clear code of conduct and culture that you expect. If people don’t align with that, then they have to find the schools that are right for them. Making hard decisions for the standards you expect is the hardest but most important responsibility of the master.
The Predictable Traps
Politics in all organisations and communities happens. However, when you have the culture set up correctly, it greatly diminishes them and makes any perceived conflicts far easier to solve. These are traps that martial art schools tend to fall into and are pretty predictable patterns:
Jealousy – Seeing someone else surpass us can trigger resentment. In Wing Tsun, we flip this mentality: rather than resenting another’s ability, we ask, “How can I learn from this?”
Insecurity – Some teachers resist the idea of students surpassing them, clinging to their status at the top. But a true master is a master of masters—someone who fosters a legacy where students eventually exceed them.
Money and Control – Many schools fall into the trap of dividing and controlling students for financial gain. Some teachers selectively share knowledge, ensuring no one ever fully progresses, creating a pyramid scheme-like structure that breeds dependence rather than empowerment.
The Teacher Stops Training – A predictable and dangerous trap is when a teacher ceases to push their own learning. As Grandmaster Leung Ting observed, when a teacher stops training, students can quickly surpass them—unless the teacher continually seeks mastery. True mastery means always asking new questions, using student challenges as a means for growth, and remaining committed to improvement.
Creating Harmony
Tradition in Wing Tsun means preserving a system that has been refined over 1,500 years. It has seen the test of time and evolved to balance structure with adaptability. The key is understanding that students are the future, but the teacher's job is in the present, passing on knowledge that has endured. The challenge is ensuring that tradition is not misused as a means of control but instead serves as a foundation for growth.
By recognising these traps and responsibilities, we can move beyond them and rediscover the true essence of martial arts—the beauty, discipline, and transformative power that originally drew us to the practice. The goal is not just to train but to cultivate a way of being that transcends the physical aspects and enriches every part of our lives.
What has your experience of the martial arts been?
I would love you to share your experiences in the comment section below.
How have you found the culture at the schools you have visited or trained at?
Sifu