Every martial art of the world has its own tenets, principles and ethics, which constitutes its code of honour, and due to this it is not only a fighting art, but it is also a way of life. These tenets imbibe the martial artist with unique qualities, which collectively guide a martial artist to become a leader in his or her desired field. For example, there are innumerable black belts who are also leaders in their respective fields. It is common to find doctors, nurses, teachers, engineers, accountants, military personnel, law enforcement officers, business persons, and more, who are not only leaders in their respective occupations, but are also trained martial artists. Thus, martial arts and leadership are very closely connected.
This article begins with an overview of leadership and then it briefly examines how martial arts intersects with leadership in different ways.
What is leadership?
The term “leadership” is a contested term, which has several theories, styles, and traits attached to it. However, generally, leadership, both as a research area and as a practical skill, encompasses the ability of an individual, group, or organization to “lead”, influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or entire organizations. The person, group, or organization, who leads is usually called as a “leader”.
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Leadership theories/styles/traits
In an attempt to understand leadership, the activities of notable leaders of the world, from different fields, have been closely observed, which has resulted in a vast amount of literature on leadership, comprising of theories, characteristics, styles, and traits of leaders. Generally, leaders do not follow any single theory, style or trait, and they mix and match them as per the demands of the situation. Thus, there is no conclusive definition of leadership, and it remains a contestable term.
Leadershipahoy! video “16 Leadership Theories in 15 minutes! Time journey: 1840 – today. [Includes 30+ leadership styles!]”:
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Simon Sinek video “What Makes a Leader Great?”:
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Martial Arts and Leadership
It may be debatable whether a leader is born or made; nonetheless, it is without any doubt that persons pursuing martial arts, normally tend to excel and lead in any field that they may choose in their lives. Due to this, leadership intersects with martial arts in many different ways. One intersection is where martial arts schools offer leadership programs.
Martial arts leadership programs
Many martial art schools, all around the world, offer leadership programs. The renowned English poet William Wordsworth wrote, “The child is the father of the man”, which means that the future of humanity is represented by children; accordingly, martial arts leadership programs are usually targeted at kids and teens, so that the future of humanity is led by exceptional leaders. Children are taught soft skills like communication skills, social skills, behavioral skills, along with hard skills like physical fitness and martial arts.
@richmondmma video “Martial Arts Training: Building Leadership Skills in Kids”:
Hyper video “The Leadership Training Program | Hyper Martial Arts”:
Victory Martial Arts video “Victory Martial Arts – Leadership Program”:
Palmisano’s ATA Martial Arts video “Building Great Leaders Through Martial Arts”:
Mastery Martial Arts “Leadership training for Kids | Mastery Martial Arts”:
Modern Martial Arts NYC video “Modern Martial Arts -Kids Leadership program”:
Intersection of martial arts and leadership
There are many martial qualities that directly or indirectly intersect with leadership qualities. For example, in Taekwon-Do, the tenets of courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, and indomitable spirit are essential martial qualities required in a practitioner of Taekwon-Do, but these qualities also mould the practitioner into a leader and thereby, they intersect with leadership. There are many other qualities also, but they generally overlap each other and can be included in some form or another, within the tenets of the martial art. For example, respect can be included in courtesy, belief can be included in integrity, discipline can be included in perseverance, and so on. Hence, the qualities required for leadership can be included, in some way or the other, within the tenets, principles, or philosophy of the martial art. In this manner, martial qualities intersect with leadership qualities, and they both influence each other. Few intersections of martial arts with leadership are presented below.
—Humility and respect. Without humility, it is not possible to give or get respect. For example, bowing is a Japanese ritual of showing humility and respect, which is incorporated in all Japanese martial arts, or Japanese-influenced martial arts. In leadership, it is expressed as valuing the contributions of team members and remaining open to learning.
—Team building and empowerment. In martial arts, teamwork is required in demonstrations of tuls and katas, as well as in breaking boards, tiles, and bricks. Higher level belt holders may empower lower level belt holders, by sometimes allowing them to perform the duties of higher level belt holders. For example, a black belt holder may empower a yellow belt holder to instruct a white belt holder. In leadership, a team is a fundamental requisite, and a leader can empower the team members to undertake self-motivation and self-leadership, whenever required.
—Adaptability and resilience. The ability to come back again and again from adversity is resilience, which is performed by advantageously adapting to difficult circumstances. In martial arts this is crucial, while in leadership this helps to transform challenges into opportunities for growth.
—Decision making and strategic moves. Split-second strategic moves and fast decisions are seen in martial arts sparring and self-defense. In leadership, strategic moves and timely decisions help to solve complex problems easily.
—Consistency and discipline. In martial arts, without discipline, nothing worthwhile is ever achieved. Likewise in leadership, in order to reach goals, objectives and targets, leaders have to incorporate discipline and consistency in their own work, as well as in the work of their teams.
Some important commonalities
Martial arts and leadership intersect at several points; nonetheless, there are some qualities that are equally important in both martial arts and leadership, and few such important qualities, common to both, are outlined below.
Belief
Broadly, it may be stated that a belief is created by trust and faith, which results in believing in something. For example, a martial artist has a belief that martial arts can make him a better person by transforming the physical, mental, and spiritual dimensions of his existence. He has trust and faith in the Way shown by the martial art, which results in his believing that martial arts can make him a respectable, socially contributing, and a peace-loving human being, while simultaneously also advancing his own spiritual development.
Discovery Channel Southeast Asia “The Secret Of Shaolin Kung Fu | Belief”:
In leadership, it is a belief that drives the leader to believe in his vision, mission, and values, which leads to believing in himself and his team, so that the extraordinary can be made ordinary, and the seemingly impossible can be made possible. For example, Elon Musk believes that humans can colonize the planet Mars, and this belief may seem impossible now; however, in the future, it might be possible to have a human colony on Mars. Similarly, about two decades back, it was extraordinary to think that the whole world can be networked via text, audio, video, chats, emojis, and more, in a socially engaging virtual platform; nonetheless, the belief that this can be done, made this extraordinary thought into what is today an ordinary day-to-day social networking experience called as Facebook. The following film shows how Mark Zuckerberg along with his friends, co-founded Facebook.
CRYPTIC HΘUR video “The Social Network – 2010 | 1080p”:
Insight
Insight means seeing something that others cannot see. Leaders are insightful and due to their beliefs, they are driven by passion to turn their insights into a reality.
In martial arts, particularly in a life-death situation, remaining alive would be extremely difficult without martial insights, like guarding or attacking the centerline, capturing the blind side, simultaneously attacking and defending, using every muscle of the body in a punch or a kick, moving the body like a whip, adapting to changing circumstances, honestly expressing oneself, having no mind, blending the within and the without, zero wastage with one strike one kill, and many more. These martial insights also influence leadership in various ways.
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@Emperorsphere video “Bruce Lees True Meaning of Martial Arts 🥋”:
@idflea video “Miyamoto Musashi’s Path of the Sword: Insights on Martial Arts and Self-Improvement”:
Wise Panda video “NO MIND”:
In leadership, insights are equally important. Data can provide valuable insights, for example, a business decision can be guided by data processed through analytics, which can provide insights. However, besides data, leaders also rely on several other factors to gain insights. One such factor is rock solid experience. For example, Ray Kroc, an American businessman, had a vast experience in selling, and due to his selling experience, he had the insight of seeing McDonald’s as a leading fast-food chain. He believed in his insight, purchased McDonald’s, and made it into a multi-national fast-food chain. The following film tells the story of Ray Kroc and McDonald’s, along with displaying numerous aspects of leadership.
Sword Network Design Company video “THE FOUNDER – Full HD Movie For Entrepreneurs”:
Survival
Martial arts and its associated weaponry, both ancient and modern, were invented and are continuing to be invented, solely for survival in the battlefield. Thus, every movement of every martial art of the entire world, is essentially a movement to survive in a life and death situation, where there are no rules or regulations, and where survival simply means to kill the enemy.
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Al Habduro video “WORLD WAR II Original Color Footage With Sounds”:
However, during times of peace, surviving in a battlefield, which was the prime reason for inventing and practicing martial arts, lost its meaning and was no longer applicable. Thus, in peaceful times, survival was replaced with the other benefits of martial arts like physical fitness, gaining mental focus, or making it a sporting activity having rules and regulations. In times of peace, the meaning of survival in martial arts underwent a paradigm shift, and rather than killing the opponent, survival meant to win a competition fight by scoring maximum points as per pre-defined rules. This sporting and peaceful meaning of survival, without any doubt, is far better for any martial artist and for the entire humanity, since peace is certainly always better than war. Therefore, martial arts like taekwondo, karate, fencing, judo, and boxing, were toned down with rules and regulations, and included in the Olympic sports and other similar events, as sporting activities.
Olympics video “Quick Guide to Olympic Taekwondo”:
Olympics video “Taekwondo 🥋 Mens +80kg Gold Medal bout | Tokyo 2020 Replays”:
TKD Fights video “Luke Moriarty vs Egor Valkov | FINAL -75 KG | ITF European Championships 2024 Lublin, Poland”:
World Karate Federation video “Karate1 PARIS | FINALS | WORLD KARATE FEDERATION”:
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In leadership, survival is inherent in all leaders, as leaders have powerful survival instincts, and they can face any and all obstacles in order to survive. They survive because they have a strong belief, in which they repose their complete trust and faith. The following film shows the protagonist, who is stranded on a deserted island, and who survives in spite of tremendous odds. This film also displays a very large majority of leadership qualities.
Be Different video “Cast away full movie”:
Planning
Generally, the paradox is that while planning is useful, plans are useless; nonetheless, planning provides an initial plan, which can be tweaked slightly, or modified in a large way, or may be changed altogether, as per the prevailing circumstances faced by the plan.
Martial artists need to go on adapting their plans as per the situations faced during sparring or in a competition fight. During a fight, plans are prone to change; nonetheless, while training for the fight, both planning and plans are very helpful. For example, a martial artist may enroll in some competition and in order to undergo training for it, he needs a training plan. If the plan is made by a qualified instructor, then simply sticking to that training plan would result in his being fully trained for the competition. Coaches or instructors create, tweak, or modify training plans, and athletes or martial artists stick to those plans. Most often, competitions are won in this manner. Winning proves the importance of planning and training plans made by the trainers, and the devotion of the athletes who sincerely follow those plans.
Olympics video “Taekwondo training in Mexico | Making of an Olympian”:
Team GB video “Team GB Trains | Taekwondo”:
JNTKD video “Taekwondo Training Camp in Korea 2011 [No Music]”:
Lauren TKD video “TRAINING DAY for an Olympic Taekwondo Athlete | What Do Full Time Athletes Actually Do In a Day?”:
Team-M Taekwondo video “USA National Taekwondo Poomsae Team Training Camp Fundraiser (2014)”:
In leadership, planning reigns supreme and leaders are obsessed with planning. They leave no stone unturned, attempting to foresee each and every obstacle or advantage, so that they get no surprises, and always remain in full control. When faced with a crisis, leaders tend to mix and match all the leadership styles, from being very authoritarian to being very friendly, so that the crisis can be resolved with success. The following prison drama film shows several intricacies of plans and planning, while showcasing many qualities of a leader and leadership.
King of Movies video “The Shawshank Redemption Morgan Freeman, Tim Robbins”:
Courage
Martial artists walk on the Way of the martial art, and leaders walk on the Way of leadership. However, generally very soon, obstacles and detours are met. Faced with obstacles one may leave the Way, or take a detour and go on some another Way. If one decides to not leave the Way due to obstacles, or to not get lost in the maze of detours, then one infuses the Way with personal strivings, struggles, aspirations, hopes and dreams. After some time, disillusionment may set in, and then one usually leaves the Way. However, if one decides to return to the Way, or ignoring the disillusionment and continues on the Way, then the Way is paved with sweat, tears and blood, along with laughter, joy and happiness, which all together combine to make the Way as a very own and a very personal Way. Now, the Way of the martial art becomes the Way of the martial artist, and the Way of leadership becomes the Way of the leader.
This happens, because the martial art and the martial artist have totally fused together, and there is no difference between them. The martial art is embodied in the martial artist, and the martial artist is embodied in the martial art. At this time, the martial artist sees the martial art in everything. Walking is martial art, sleeping is martial art, eating is martial art, and even the entire Nature is martial art. Everything is martial art.
Movieclips video “The Karate Kid (2010) – Everything is Kung Fu Scene (4/10) | Movieclips”:
Likewise, when the leader and leadership are merged within themselves, then the leader sees leadership everywhere.
John Churchley video “Leadership is Everywhere”:
It takes courage to walk the Way of the martial art. It takes courage to walk the Way of leadership. It takes courage to face trials and tribulations of fate, and although being fully tempted, yet to remain without compromising any principles at all. It takes courage to face deception and double-dealings of friends, and although being fully capable, yet to remain without seeking any revenge at all. It takes courage to face betrayal and disloyalty of loved ones, and although being fully shattered, yet to remain without any bitterness at all. It takes courage to remain on the path of love, peace, forgiveness, and harmony. It takes courage to fuse the Way within oneself. It takes courage to be a martial artist. It takes courage to be a leader. This is why any martial artist or any leader, worth his salt, is always courageous.
Conclusion
Martial arts and leadership share several commonalities. While journeying on their respective martial Way and leadership Way, seasoned warriors and experienced leaders, realize that success most often comes by undertaking no-plan as a plan, no-method as a method, and no-mind as a mind. This makes walking on the Way not merely a journey, but also an adventure. A thrilling and a fulfilling adventure of sincerity, responsibility, achievement, dignity, sorrow and joy. Perhaps, this Way may be called as Frank Sinatra aptly calls it— “My Way”.
Frank Sinatra video “My Way”:
Frank Sinatra video “Frank Sinatra – My Way (Live At Madison Square Garden, New York City / 1974 / 2019 Edit)”:
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