

Aikido as a martial art is also a good study of energy, yours and your opponent’s, and in a larger context can be applied to life and leadership. You may already be practising some of the skills mentioned in this article, a mental-physical practice like aikido can help you to finetune these skills further.

Think of what you bring to the mat at a dojo as a microscopic, intense study and fusion of your body, mind and spirit. These three elements should all be in tune as you move as ‘one’. Hence why aikido is often referred to as a ‘moving meditation’. You can practise the same in your leadership style.



2. Sincere, pure intention


3. Using your optimal energy and resources


4. Flex your muscles. Empathy and listening

Aikido is big on developing skills in empathy. There is no competition but repetition of movements with different partners. Each partner brings his own experience and his perspective. You blend with his energy, and him, with yours. As a good partner you need to adjust to the different levels of ‘communication’. Your team at work will have various expectations and background. You want to be a flexible communicator and most importantly, a listener.

5. Self mastery. Rinse and repeat

The study of aikido is a lifelong journey. Despite its repetition of movement, it is never static, like stepping into a running stream – you get something new out of it each time. O Sensei, the founder of aikido remarked that he only truly understood the essence of aikido at the later stages of his life. Just like playing a musical instrument, you get better with practice. Rinse and repeat. And you’ll be a great leader.


May you create your masterpiece.

This piece was originally published on by Vanessa Ching. The original piece can be found here:

Leave a Reply


You are commenting using your account. Log Out /  Change )

Google photo


Twitter picture


Facebook photo


Connecting to %s