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Emotional business management – Aiki principles

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Photo courtesy of Spiral Photography

Besides being a business coach and educator, I am an enthusiastic Aikido practitioner.  Over time, I have seen Aiki principles working in practice enough to know that it has application across the full range of human emotion and interaction.

I firmly believe that the principles of Aiki have a valid place in the highly competitive and egotistical world of business, which of course is where I make my living.

Business is merely a subset of life, except for the addition of two powerful factors – money and power!  These two ingredients have enormous potential to alter human behaviour.  They are catalysts for greed and competition and can bring out the very worst in people.

Aikido is known world wide as the art of peace.  It is a defensive, non-confrontational, non-competitive Japanese martial art driven by calm and relaxation, with care for the wellbeing of the opponent inherent in the art.

The introduction of Aiki principles is about applying concepts of peace to business interactions, but at the same time having effective defensive skills to deal with any difficult situation.

Aiki is a powerful addition to the personal strategic business arsenal.  In essence, it is maintaining a peaceful mind when competing and fighting are the easier options.  It is extending and injecting the power of calm and relaxation into all things.

You may have to do some Aikido training to appreciate it but you will realise what an overwhelming advantage the power of Aiki really is.

Aiki emotional management has immediate and obvious benefits for business.  It lowers deadly personal stress levels and plays a direct and positive role in business productivity and performance.

There are three (3) basic main Aiki principles of peace to observe when interacting with others on a business basis.  They are:

  • Respect (for self and others)
  • Self control (rather than control over others)
  • Being centered (a state of balanced, calm alertness)

There are many more Aiki principles that are applicable but they all flow from these basic three.  These principles are a must for powerful business interactions and positive results.  I will discuss each Aiki principle of peace in more detail in future posts.

For more reading about Aikido and its many life secrets, visit my other blog at:

http://www.aikido-secrets-to-calm-success.com

If you are starting your own business or even considering it, you should read my book “Recession Riches and wealth” at:

http://garyweigh.com/recession-riches-and-wealth

Many thanks to Dean Miscamble of Spiral Photography specialist in martial arts action photography.  Visit

http://www.spiralphotography.com.au

Until next time

Gary

Emotional business management – the Aiki way

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Photo courtesy of Spiral Photography

In a recent blog article, It’s ok to be emotional,  I talked about the issue of bringing emotions to work and how it is generally frowned upon in traditional work places.

In a series of follow up articles, I would like to explore this issue a little deeper.

The fact is that business owners, managers and employees all bring their emotions to work.  Like it or not, human emotions are here to stay as long as business is based on human interaction.

What is not widely appreciated is that the human emotions many bosses want banished from the work place can actually be the foundation of good business interaction.  The secret lies in understanding it and self managing it.

As I pointed out in my previous article, Emotional Intelligence (EI) Researchers have found a direct correlation between high EI and effective leadership, team success and employee performance.

Emotional Intelligence is an awareness of one’s own and others’ emotions and the ability to control those emotions and influence the emotions of others.  Those who have high levels of emotional intelligence are generally happier with them selves and suffer less stress.

I would like to introduce a new concept to the discussion of emotional business interactions.  It is called Aiki-emotional management and its principles are derived from the art of Aikido.

Aikido is a Japanese martial art whose origins can be traced back to the feudal era of the Samurai.  It is a purely defensive martial art that has an inbuilt care for the wellbeing of the attacker.  Although it can be dangerous and even lethal, it is not a fighting art.  It is known throughout the world as the art of peace.

Aikido, in its simplest translation, means ‘the way of joining energy’ – ‘Ai’ (join), ‘ki’ (energy) and ‘do’ (the way).

Care must always be taken with the absolute meanings of words which have been derived from symbols, in this case Chinese and Japanese kanji, because they represent ideas rather than literal translations of the components.

Nevertheless, the principle of ‘Aiki’ describes an idea of oneness and harmony in the midst of conflict.  In aikido, it describes the notion of blending rather than clashing.

One of the secrets of Aikido is that it requires a completely calm mind and relaxed body to execute it.  Size, strength and speed of an opponent don’t matter in the slightest because force is never met with force.

The idea of oneness also includes oneness of the self.  The coordination of mind and body and making positive human connections through the extension of ‘Ki’ energy are central to the art.

Aikido is all about balance, timing, movement and self control.  The energy of another is welcomed, co-joined and redirected, usually to the ground or to immobilization.  To deliberately injure another person in anything other than the most dire and extreme circumstances, is considered a failure.

There are no competitions in Aikido, only regular practice.  It is often referred to as an internal art because it is considered to be a personal journey of learning whose principles have wide application in everyday life.

In the next article, I will continue this blog journey of applying the hidden principles of Aikido to the emotional human being at work.

For more reading about Aikido and its many secrets, visit my other blog at http://www.aikido-secrets-to-calm-success.com

If you are starting your own business or even considering it, you should read my book “Recession Riches and wealth” Go to the recession riches and wealth page on this blog.

Until next time

Gary