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Aikido (The Way of Harmony) in Business
By Martin Brossman
(Reprinted from Chrysalis, Volume VI
Issue I - 1991)
As we were dressing
'after instruction in the martial art of aikido, a
classmate commented, "If I could interact with my
boss on the aikido mats instead of in the office, I
would know just how to handle him." What this
aikidoka (practitioner of aikido) did not realize
was the fact that aikido can indeed be used as a
metaphor for handling conflicts in a business
environment. I believe that aikido provides a much
more useful mode than other martial arts that
emphasize size and strength, such as karate and
jujutsu.
Aikido was created
in 1925 in Japan by one of the most respected and
distinguished men in the martial arts, Morihei
Ueshiba, who had obtained a black belt in karate and
jujutsu and several other martial arts. Morihei
Ueshiba developed what he felt was a more effective
way of dealing with conflict. The word "aikido"
means the way of harmony. The basic concept is to
use the energy of an attack to neutralize the
attacker. This means that even if an attacker is
more powerful than yourself, you can still control
the conflict. Control is accomplished by blending
with the momentum of the attack and leading it to a
more neutralized state. Aikido presupposes that
people attack because they are out of balance in
their lives or in a particular situation. With
aikido, the method used to resolve conflict is to
take the attacker's energy and put the individual
back in balance-with minimum damage to the attacker
and to you.
How does this
philosophy translate into physical action? Imagine
being in a bar and a large burly man decides to take
a swing at your head. If trained in karate, you
would use your strength to break his arm. Your
success would depend on superior strength and speed.
In aikido, however, you would shift your body off
the direct line of attack by moving to the side
while still facing your attacker. Putting your arm
against his arm and turning with his body as he
comes forward, your goal would be to blend with his
forward motion and to give him a sense that he is
still succeeding with his attack. By shifting your
body further to the side, the attacker would then
use his own momentum to throw himself to the floor.
Aikido blends with the opponent's incoming energy,
controls it, and leads it to a more stable state.
How does this apply
to business in America? The answer is, very well.
Force against force is not very useful in corporate
America, and taking the offensive position to direct
an attack is less and less appropriate in today's
business world. In aikido, we do not treat an attack
as a personal assault. We view it instead as
out-of-balance energy. The goal is to blend with the
attacker and to lead him to a more resourceful
state.
Viewing verbal
assaults in business as out-of-balance energy puts
you in a strong position with many options. Imagine
that you work in the complaint department of a
store. An agitated customer comes in screaming, "How
can you work for a company that produces this junk!"
Rather than feeling attacked, you view these words
as energy misapplied and begin to restore the
balance. You ask (changing your volume and tone to
match the complainer's), "You seem concerned, and
how can I help you?" Then changing the volume and
tone of your voice again, you lead the complainer to
a more balanced speaking level.
Aikido supplies
useful experiences that can relate to modern
business situations. The world is changing in the
1990s. Being biggest and strongest is not enough.
Maybe we can learn some new techniques for handling
conflict in business from a martial art that
emphasizes managing energy and creating balance.
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