Are Aikido principles Effective? They’re Good Enough for the 21st Century Marines

Are Aikido leadership principles effective? The U.S. Marine Corps. thinks so.

When the U.S.M.C. wanted to bring their soldiers into the 21st century, they tapped psychologist Richard Strozzi-Heckler, an Aikido instructor and leadership expert from Marin County, California, to bring Aikido principles to the Corps. Richard documented his experiences in his fascinating book, “In Search of the Warrior Spirit.” I read "Warrior Spirit" several times through while I was researching my "Leading People the Black Belt Way" book. I I highly recommend "Warrior Spirit" for anyone interested in leadership. (Which is why I am very proud that Richard was willing to write a foreword for my latest leadership book, "The Way of Leading People: Unlocking Your Integral Leadership Skills with the Tao Te Ching.")

In the past several years, the program that Richard began has been institutionalized into the Marine Corps. Currently called the Marine Corp Martial Arts Program taught out of the MACE (Martial Arts Center of Excellence), over 45,000 soldiers each year are taught some of the core underlying principles of Aikido.

The focus of MACE is three-fold:
1. Character development
2. Mental Discipline
3. Physical Discipline

The MACE program is being continuously refined and revised … and yet Aikido principles remain at their core.

Aikido leadership principles … if they are good enough for the Marine Corps, they’re good enough for YOUR organization.