The Golden Mean: Power in the Middle of the Fight

Into the Valley of Death, or Not?

Oct 16, 2025

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I got to see this during my recent trip to London. I know it’s hard to read, but it is the actual 1854 order that launched the “Charge of the Light Brigade.” It says ‘Lord Raglan wishes the cavalry to advance rapidly to the front, follow the enemy and try to prevent the enemy from carrying away the guns… Immediate.’ The order was not clear and led to 600 light cavalry charging a heavily fortified position. Less than 200 returned. If you have never heard Alfred Lord Tennyson’s epic poem, there is a link at the bottom

Aristotle didn’t worship traits; he calibrated them. He called it the Golden Mean—the disciplined middle between two ditches. Courage sits between cowardice and rashness. Discipline between laziness and rigidity. Confidence between self-doubt and arrogance. The point isn’t to be bland or average. The mean isn’t mediocrity—it’s maximum usable power aimed in the right direction.

History hands us a harsh case study: the Charge of the Light Brigade. A misread order, a narrow valley flanked by guns, and a cavalry brigade rode straight into withering fire. There was undeniable bravery—saddles stayed filled as horses cut through smoke and iron—but the outcome was preordained. In the ledger of virtue, courage crossed the centerline and bled into recklessness. That’s the danger when a strength outruns judgment: you get motion without mission, heat without light, sacrifice without gain.

In the teams, we teach that every virtue has a failure mode. Aggression becomes carelessness. Patience becomes stalling. Speed becomes hurry, and standards become stubbornness. The art is not to amputate the trait but to range it—to keep your fighting position inside the useful band, adjusting fire as conditions change.

Think of your life like a fire control system. You hold a target state, monitor drift, and make small, timely corrections. Too many of us live at the extremes: sprinting until we crater, then “recovering” until we rust. We brag about all-gas or all-brakes. The pros run feedback loops. They see the strike of the round, correct three clicks, and get back on target.

This isn’t theory. It’s daily work. If you lead a team, you’ve seen both ditches. The timid leader hides behind process and lets opportunities die. The reckless leader drags everyone into bad fights and calls it courage. The Golden Mean says: close with the problem with enough aggression to win and enough restraint to keep winning tomorrow.

How do you maintain the middle in real-time?

Name the ditches. For each virtue you value—courage, discipline, intensity—write the two failure modes you personally default to under stress. If you can’t name them, they will own you.
Define the centerline in behaviors. “Courage” isn’t a mood. It’s a call made on time with enough intel; a hard conversation run face-to-face; a decision that risks reputation, not people’s safety.
Install gauges. A simple deadband: what “in-range” looks like today. For intensity: 2 deep-work blocks before noon, no more than 10 hours total. For training: progressive overload without form breakdown.
Pre-plan corrections. If you drift toward cowardice: pick up the phone within 10 minutes. If you drift toward rashness: pause 5 minutes, confirm mission & constraints, then commit.
Debrief fast. A 3-minute AAR: What went right? What drifted? What’s the tiny change that will keep you in range tomorrow?

The Charge of the Light Brigade reminds us: bravery minus prudence is just noise with casualties. In life and leadership, the win is rarely at the edges. It’s in the disciplined middle, where virtues are harnessed, not unhooked; where courage is aimed, not sprayed; where you can get better at getting better because your feedback loop is calm, honest, and fast.

Execution

Pick one arena today (work, training, family). Identify the two ditches and the centerline behavior.
Set a deadband (your acceptable range) and one guardrail on each side.
Run a daily AAR by 1800: observe → check drift → correct → log ✅/❌.
Friday weekly AAR: Did you stay in the center? What one-click correction will keep you there next week?

Until next week,

Keep Walking Point!

John

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