Stand Out with Purpose and Impact: Insights from ONE Championship’s Founder

At EO’s 2024 Global Leadership Conference (GLC) in Singapore, the more than 1,800 attendees from 65 countries sat in on an energetic fireside chat with Chatri Sityodtong, founder and CEO of ONE Championship, the world’s largest martial arts organization. Watch the full conversation with Chatri Sityodtong on EO’s Learning Management System.

Chatri Sityodtong’s lifelong passion for martial arts shaped his leadership philosophy, driving him to leave a successful Wall Street hedge fund manager career to become a startup entrepreneur and struggle to achieve success.

Here are eight key takeaways highlights from Chatri’s journey with ONE Championship that provide a roadmap for how to stand out for the right reasons and achieve lasting success.

1. Don’t Make Money Your King

After graduating from Harvard and finding success on Wall Street, Chatri had a revelation that left him in a cold sweat: “Is this all there is? Is this the meaning of life? Just to make a lot of money, buy more material things, and have more zeros in your bank account?”

Grateful for financial success but yearning for more, Chatri recalled his mother’s advice:  “If money is your king, you will do anything for money. Some people take it to extremes, damaging society, lying, cheating, and stealing,” she said. “But if money is your slave, then you will use money for something much bigger than yourself.” That’s what Chatri wanted.

Chatri made a bold move. He told his friends and family, “I’m going to figure out a way that I can help humanity through the thing I love most, which is martial arts.” Everyone said it was the dumbest idea they had ever heard.

“I had no clue what I was going to do,” Chatri admitted. “But I wanted to live with my greatest passion every day, and I wanted to live with a deep sense of purpose that I am doing something worthwhile with my time on Earth.”

2. Success Must be Intrinsic

Chatri believes strongly that success has to be intrinsic.

“Intrinsic means you ignore everything society has taught you, and go off by yourself to think deeply about what you want to do with your life that would make you happiest and most fulfilled without harming others,” he said. “It’s actually pretty easy to make a living, but then you are just existing. But it’s very hard to live with passion, to do something that you know ignites your soul.”

3. Break Free from Industry Norms

Chatri shared a profound lesson from martial arts training: “If you train like everyone else, you will fight like everyone else.” In the business world, this principle underscores the importance of thinking differently.

“If you do what everyone else does, you will get what everyone else receives, whether it’s a return on capital or profitability,” he explained. “That’s the mindset of a typical company.”

To achieve exceptional results, think differently and avoid the trap of complacency.

“The exceptional company always tries to think about what is the best, most efficient, or most creative way to surprise its customer. What’s a brand-new way?” he shared.

If you’re smart enough and think differently enough, you can disrupt your own concept and industry. That’s the key to achieving exceptional results.

4. Embrace a Mission-Driven Approach

A clear and meaningful mission can inspire your team and help you stand out to your audience.

“For me, the end does not justify the means,” Chatri stated. “If you are polluting and poisoning society, or destroying children’s perception of what is right and wrong, you are not building an organization for humanity. You’re just making money.”

ONE Championship’s mission is to “Unleash real-life superheroes who ignite the world with hope, strength, dreams, and inspiration.”

The organization seeks to uplift humanity through the values and stories of its athletes.

“We want to be a beacon of light, hope, and inspiration — through our heroes, through our values, through our stories — to uplift humanity and all of our fans to dream more, do more, and be more in life,” Chatri said. “That is the ultimate purpose of ONE.”

5. Foster Excellence and Integrity

Building a successful organization requires more than just an authentic mission; it demands a values-based culture.

The values Chatri hires for include integrity, happiness, excellence, continued self-improvement, loyalty, and teamwork. He focused deeply on three of those key traits:

• Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is watching.
• Excellence is doing your job above and beyond the call of duty, driven by intrinsic motivation.
• Happiness is spreading positive energy, enthusiasm, and inspiration to everyone around you.

By prioritizing these values, your company can attract and retain top talent, drive high performance, and build a reputation for reliability and quality.

6. Surround Yourself with Greatness

“To be a lion, you have to train with lions,” Chatri said.  It’s a lesson derived from martial arts that applies equally to business: “To unleash your greatness, you have to surround yourself with greatness.”

Chatri only hires people who possess what he calls that “PHD” factor: “Poor, hungry, and determined in spirit, in attitude, and in life.”

PHD-factor individuals will push boundaries, overcome obstacles, and drive your organization forward.

7. Never Give Up

Chatri Sityodtong, the ring name given by his martial arts master, means “extraordinary warrior.” The name fits Chatri well, as business can indeed feel like a battle.

Many entrepreneurs endure a six- to twelve-month “no man’s land” as they struggle to find their foothold in an industry, but Chatri struggled for a full three years to launch ONE Championship successfully.

“I met with 150 investors and got rejected by every single one. I went to brands, sponsors, athletes. It was hopeless. I went from failure to failure for three years, and it beat me down so badly,” Chatri recalled.

“That’s why everything has to be intrinsic,” he continued. “If I had been starting this company only to make a billion dollars, I would have quit, but I was doing this because it is what I genuinely feel like I was put on the planet to do.”

Chatri’s journey took a significant turn with the rise of social media. ONE Championship found its global audience through inspirational videos on Facebook that resonated with Millennials and Gen Z. The resulting surge in organic video views—from 200,000 to 10 billion in five years—was the proof of concept that convinced broadcasters that Chatri’s idea had wings.

8. Build Resilience and Adaptability

“The greatest thing that martial arts gave me, other than incredible bedrock values, is a warrior spirit to conquer adversity in life —any adventure, any journey, especially entrepreneurship,” Chatri said. “Every entrepreneur will tell you, without grit and resilience, you will not make it through.”

His personal story of overcoming adversity—from a privileged childhood to financial ruin and bankruptcy and then eventual achieving success—showcases his grit and determination. Resilience, coupled with passion, made the difference between failure and success.

“I wish that every human being in the world would have the opportunity to find something that truly ignites their soul, because then you can do something truly extraordinary with your life,” he said. “And every day, you live with passion and purpose.”

You can view the full conversation with Chatri Sityodtong on EO’s Learning Management System. Don’t miss other GLC highlights including Mo Gawdat on AI Ethics: How to Ensure Artificial Intelligence Benefits Humanity and a lookback at How GLC Learn Arounds Unlock New Perspectives Via Full Immersion Learning.

For more insights and inspiration from today’s leading entrepreneurs, check out EO on Inc. and more articles from the EO blog.