Teaching Leadership through Aikido

Aikido is presented as a Japanese martial art that has many direct parallels to principles of modern leadership. The authors outline how they use aikido to present physical metaphors of powerful leadership principles in a 2-hour experiential session. Both MBA students and executive program participants respond very favorably. This exercise provides a useful complement to more Western and traditional methods of teaching leadership. Concepts conveyed include focusing and goal setting (centering), attitudinal impacts on behavior, viewing a larger context, succeeding without being "hard," leader/follower trust and communications, rechanneling energy, and finding win/win solutions.