When we repeat an act of behaviour we call this practice. Change requires practice. Yet practice doesn’t always get us the result we want. Why? Because how we practice matters. Distinct practice is a conscious decision to repeat a behaviour that enables us to do something today better than we could yesterday. Indistinct practice is how we behave without being conscious …
The purpose of Aikido is to harness the energy of our opponent and to restore harmony to ourselves, our opponent and the wider world without causing harm. On the mat, we deal with one or more opponents approaching us with intent to harm. In our current circumstances, we all find ourselves under similar pressures to respond. Lesson …
Three surprising, practical leadership lessons from Aikido Read More »
It is counterintuitive to think that if we work towards achieving an outcome by ‘playing not to lose’ that this works against us. We strive to win by trying hard not to lose. Playing not to lose is a defensive game. Our defensiveness often points to an unspoken assumption that something poses a risk to our identity. Defensiveness …
‘What do you do?’ is a common question we use to begin a conversation. It’s innocuous. It’s safe and it has the air of understated Englishness about it. We are all very comfortable talking about what we do. It’s a conversation we’ve replayed thousands of times in the theatre of our professional and personal networks But this question …
“Accountability is a crutch.” So says former Navy Seal, Jocko Willink in his excellent book ‘Extreme Ownership.’ Holding people accountable often compels teams to comply and ‘play not to lose’ to achieve their objectives. The issue is not the presence of objectives. The issue, in Jocko’s view, is who sets them, how they are set and how they are …
This year, I’ve had the immense privilege of supporting and facilitating an amazing group of coaches who have been preparing their submissions for professional accreditation with the European Mentoring and Coaching Council. What I noticed at the beginning of the week was how many of us are conditioned from an early age to see such exercises …