Richard Strozzi-Heckler

Written for emergent business leaders and personal growth seekers, this new work from renowned teacher and author Richard strozzi-Heckler offers a new approach to leadership.

A proven thought leader among Fortune 100 executives and tip-ranked military officials, Richard Strozzi-Heckler blends his martial arts mastery with time-tested business strategies to present a new, body-based leadership practice.

The bestselling author writes, 'Bookstores are filled with stories of great leaders and what they did in certian situations, but nothing about how leadership is learned.' This new work answers that need with key principles developed in training groups among top brass at AT&T, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, the Navy, the Army, and the Marines.

The Leadership Dojo is based on three key questions: What does a leader do? What are the character values most essential to exemplary leadership? How do you teach these values? Drawing on the wisdom of ages from Plato to the Bhagavad Gita, from Thucydides to the Abidharma, the author asserts that understanding and answering these questions are the key to superior leadership skills.

The first book of its kind to base business and management strength on integral body awareness, The Leadersip Dojo presents key principles such as shugyo, or self-cultivation. The result? A moral and spiritual vision that affords the efficacy, individual responsibility, and social commitment it takes to lead with authority.

Richard Strozzi-Heckler has worked with tens of thousands of people over the last thirty years including corporate executives, Olympic and professional athletes, managers, political leaders, and inner-city gangs. He is the author of the nationally acclaimed In Search of the Warrior Spirit, as well as The Anatomy of Change and Holding the Center. A pioneer in applying somatics to such fields as finance, technology, and manufacturing, he is the founder of the Strozzi Institute in Petaluma, California.

This leadership training is a sure-fire way to build true leaders form managers and individual performers. The teams that I lead using this training met goals on time and under budget. Team members beceame effective leaders tat went on to bigger roles adn responsibilititeses. I wold not dram of leaading a team witoiut relying on thie teachings of Storzzi-Heckler. It woiuld be leike skiing withoiut the snow-Nancy J. Hutson, Senior vice President, Pfizer Research & Development

Richard Strozzi-Heckler has developed a pragmatic, powerful, and promising method for leaders to do well and do good at the same time. Based on Strozzi-Heckler's decades of coaching experience and encycolopedic knowledge of somatics, The Leadership Dojo pinponts the true sources of leadership: the commitments we hold , the values underlying them, and our presence in the world. The Leadership Dojo presents concrete, straightforward practices that nurture extraordinary leadership-James N. Baron, William S. Beineck Professor Management, Yale School of Management

These exercises focused my attention on what was getting in the way of my success at work. Strozzi-Heckler showed me how much of the problem was me, and how, by training my body, I could adjust my decision-making and presence when faced with difficult situations. Through the strategies in The Leadership Dojo, I found the presence I needed in places that I had never thought to look. The exercises will surprise you in all the best and most meaningful ways.-Tim Bullock, Group Vice President, Europe, Africa, and Eastern Hemisphere, BP Oil International Limited

Richard Strozzi-Heckler is among our finest teachers. The Leadership Dojo goes far beyond traditional concepts of leadersip development, brilliantly blending soft and hard strategies from all sectors. Individuals from all walks of life can become exemplary leaders by awakening their sensibilities to the importance of embodying a professional presence. A must-read for anyone involved in leadership development and serious leaders of all stripes. Richard Strozzi-Heckler proves you don't neet to sacrifice your soul to succeed.-Richard Leider, author of The Power of Purpose and Repacking Your Bags

Contents

Foreword by Richard Leider
Introduction
One We are all leaders
Two The cultivation of the self
Three The place of awakening
Four You are what you practice
Five The body of a leader
Six Leadership presence
Notes (bibliography)… (altro)

from cover

'What a story this is! Heckler's chronicle of the army's daring experiment in awareness training for twenty-five Green Berets is must reading for anyone interested in the role of the warrior in a technological age. But more than that, it is an illumination of courage and vulnerability and what is means to be a man. I couldn't put it down.'--George Leonard, author of The Silent Pulse and The Ultimate Athlete

'This book should be necessary reading material for all Rangers and Special Forces units.'-Keith M. NIghtingale, Commander, Ranger Training Brigade

'In my personal opinion, Heckler hits the mark in identifying one of the most troubling problems affecting today's U.S. military forces: the ascendancy of technology at the expense of moral values which underpin the true spirit of the Profession of Arms. A must read for those amongst us who really consider themselves warriors.'-Michael E. Haas, Lt. Colonel, United States Air Force; Head, Air Force Special Operations

'Richard Heckler's proving ground-a top-secret military reasearch project-porvides colorful and unique himan insight iinto the effects of ancient spritual practices on contemporary soldiers. His discoveries challenge preconceived notions of 'good and evil,' and more profoundly, compel us, the readers, to question our own definitions of compassion, nonaggression, and courage. This is a coming-of-age book not just for the author but for the '60s and '70s generation as they assume the mantle of responsibility, especially if we take away nuclear and chemical weapons. Do we deal with terrorism, drugs, and any other emergency in vigiliante fashion or by a humane military?'-Al Santoli, author of Everything We Had: An Oral History of the Vietnam War and To Bear any Burden

Contents

Introduction by George Leonard
The Invitation
Preparations
In the Belly
War
The Encampment
The Original Warrior
Bodymind
Camaraderie
The Western
Maritime Operations
Integrity
In Search of the Warrior Spirit
Shadow and Light
Epliogue
Five Years Later… (altro)

from cover

In his newest book, psycotherapist Richard Strozzi Heckler applies his ideas about mastery and skillful action to the natural world, the family and marriage, and community. As in all his books, Heckler draws from personal experience: training his horse, cultivating presence in aikido dojos, consulting with business executives, raising children.

A masterful and encompassing book, Holding the Center develops from the fulcrum of the self in the natural world. Many of Heckler's lessons arise from his life as householder and father. Community is a larger family-we make alliances to 'take care of what matters to us.' But that takes listening to others with an open heart, learning what the needs of others are.

The world can be a sanctuary, if we find a balance between instinct and choisce. Richard Strozzi Heckler sounds an important call about the interplay between power and generosity in these subtle and luminous essays.

Richard Strozzi Heckler co-founded Lomi School, a major school of bodywork, and Tamalpais Aikido. He has pioneered the use of aikido, mediatation, and bodywork with disturbed childeren , inner-city gangs, several branches of the military, and corporate executives. His books are The Anatomy of Change, Aikido and the New Warrior, and In Search of the Warrior Spirit. He directs Rancho Strozzin Institute in Petaluna, California.

Contents

Introduction
Connecting with Place
Landing
A Good Year for Grasses
Holy Curiosity
Place of Awakening
Connectiong with Others
Given to Love: The Warrior fo the Twenty-first Century
Teachership
Community
Commanded By Love
You Can't Leave Me
Connecting with Body
The Bear
Reaching
Center: The Unity of Action and Being
Body… (altro)

from introduction

Over the past twenty years an increasing number of Aikido practitioners have been creatively adapting the principles of Aikido to their professions. Such diverse fields as education , psychology, conflict resolution, health, law enforcement, management relations, business, and sports are positively being affected by Aikido's emphasis on the unificaiton of mind, body, and spirit. How Aikido, a Japanese martial art, has had such a wide reaching effect is a tribute to its founder, Morihei Ueshiba, and the following generations of pracititioners that have contiued to practice and spread his budo of 'loving reconciliatiton.'

My desire in editing this anthology is two-fold-first, to show both the depth and breadth of this unusual martial art; second, to communicate the power and effectiveness of Aikido as a way of being in the world. In a time when spiritual values have all but evaporated, and where we are all poised on the edge of our mutual destruction or survival, I believe the message of Aikido is a meaningful one. After reading this book I wholeheartedly encourage you to find a teacher and a dojo and experience Aikido for yourself.

Contents

Richard Strozzi Heckler-Introduction
John Stevens-The Fouonder, Ueshiba Moirhei
Morihei Ueshiba-Excerpts from the Writings and Transcribed Lectures-'Accord with the Totality of the Universe'
Kisshomaru Ueshiba-Interview with Doshu
Bob Aubry-Aikido an the New Warrior
Terry Dobson-A Kind Word Turneth Away Wrath
Susan Stone-Blending with Death
George Lonard-On Getting a Blaack Belt at Age Fifty-two
Sadaharu Oh-A Zen Way of Baseball
Richard Moon-Aikido and Healing: Does this Stuff Really Work?
O. Fred Donaldson-On Aikido, Wolves and Other Wildlife
Richard Strozzi Heckler-Aikido and Children
Megan Reisel-A Turn to Balance
Jeff Haller-Aikido on the Basketball Court
Cheryl S. Reinhardt-Inner Power: The Integration of Aikido and the Fendenkrais Method
Donald T. Saposnek, Ph.D.-Aikido: A Model for Brief Strategic Therapy
George Leonard-This Is'nt Richard
Robert Nadeau-An Aikido Class
Contributors' Notes; Further Reading; Major Aikido Centers… (altro)