Practicing the art of business
Business building
In the Japanese art of Aikido it is subtlety, timing, practiced positioning and advanced state of mind that make the art work. We follow this philosophy when approaching the challenges of business building. Even in the art of business, practice doesn’t make perfect. Perfect practice does. At first the student merely learns the outer forms of techniques. I say ‘outer forms’ because it is all about first principles and gross movements; about where to put hands and feet. Over time, the inner forms begin to emerge even though plenty of mistakes are made. The mind and body finally get it together and begin to act as one. What used to be the outer forms now become instinctive blueprints.
Smaller and more subtle movement begins to emerge, taking the place of bigger movements to achieve the same, if not better, result. Principles of leading, blending, centeredness and control, all driven by strong positive Ki extension finally begin to make sense. Individual techniques give way to a calm, relaxed and well practiced way of doing things. Aikido is a great metaphor for practicing business.