Richard Amos | What are the 5 karate principles and how they could benefit any leader
Take a high-level karate master and strip away tens of thousands of hours of physical training.
What are you left with?
A human being on a spiritual path.
This path is governed by principles designed to develop an individual’s physical, mental, and spiritual being.
These principles—rooted in centuries of wisdom dating back to the Shaolin warriors and to the first ancient Indian monk who came to China—create a framework that binds all traditional karate practitioners all around the globe.
In karate class, we must move from our core. On a spiritual level, our core are our principles.
As Stephen R. Covey wrote “People can't live with change if there's not a changeless core inside them.”
I asked one of the world’s top karate instructors, Richard Amos—an 8th degree black belt—to give us an insight into the principles of Shotokan karate. Born in the UK and based in New York City, Amos lived, trained, and worked in Japan for over a decade. He’s fluent in Japanese, and trained under Asai sensei, regarded as one of the greatest Japanese karate masters to have lived in recent times. Amos is the second westerner to have completed the three-year instructor’s course in Japan as well as placing second in the All-Japan Championships, at a time when no non-Japanese had ever reached the semi-finals before.
Here are five principles he shared:
1. Strive for a whole character – Some translations say, “Strive for perfection of character.”
Amos says:
“Perfection is impossible. A more accurate meaning is whole or complete. It is about having a certain knowingness that I have only really seen in yogis such as Radhanath Swami.”
The famous swordsman Miyamoto Musashi, in his book, The Book of Five Rings: A Classic Text on the Japanese Way of the Sword, exemplifies this well when he says that a true master is never taken by surprise because he is wise.
Being willing to strive for wisdom means being willing to learn from our mistakes, make amends, and move forward.
“I know I can get relentless when I feel that my students aren’t getting it,” he said.
In business, good character is essential from the C-Suite down to the production line. A well-run company needs employees who are hard working, conscientious, honest, and helpful, as much as a company needs a CEO who represents the whole organization with integrity.
Management exhibiting poor character will bring about high turnover, dissatisfied customers, and ultimate failure. Take Enron and Kmart’s bankruptcies as examples. In one year, Enron went from $100 billion in revenue to zero, all because its executives used accounting loopholes to hide billions of dollars of debt as well as mislead their board of directors. Similarly in 2002, Kmart’s leaders lied to shareholders and company officials while syphoning off company money for their own gain.
2. Defend the path of truth - Some variations of this principle use the word sincerity or faithfulness, and Amos says it’s about your chosen path in life and sticking to it. It’s about integrity, matching your actions to your words. It’s about walking the walk and talking the talk.
“Who are you? Do you live by your life values or do you change when a better offer comes along?”
As the founder of Shotokan karate, Gichin Funakushi, wrote: “First understand yourself, then understand others.”
When Amos was a junior instructor in Japan, he decided to recite the five principles of karate before and after class, along with the non-instructors. At that time, the instructors were exempt from saying them out loud. Amos felt, as he does today, that the self-programming of constant repetition ensured that important principles entered his subconscious. Surrendering to your path takes humility.
In business, knowing our “why” is key, as Simon Sinek talks about in his Golden Circle TED talk, or as Guy Kawasaki discusses regarding making meaning within an organization. If our sole goal is making money, we will fail, Kawasaki says. On the other hand, if our goal is to improve the quality of life for others, to protect something good or to rectify a wrong, we have a better chance of creating meaning and in turn of making money as a by-product.
Sticking to our why or our meaning is key to success.
3. Cultivate a spirit of perseverance - This speaks to daily practice and to the laws of nature. There’s no hack or quick fix in becoming a karate master.
“I like the word ‘cultivate’ because it speaks to the daily, constant, ritualistic, all year, every year labor that is required. This is a perseverance that requires constant attention, much like farming.”
This farming analogy parallels Stephen Covey’s Laws of the Farm in his book First Things First in which he points out the impossibility of “cramming on the farm.” University students may get away with cramming for tests, he says, but farmers cannot expect to have a harvest, if they do all the work at the last minute. They can’t expect anything to grow overnight.
The laws of nature govern farming, much like karate, health, self-development, or business.
“You can’t decide to persevere,” Amos says. “You just do it. The thought is superseded by action. Funakoshi said to keep your karate bubbling. But be careful not to boil it too high. I’ve seen people boil themselves dry. You want to keep it bubbling.”
4. Honor the principles of etiquette – The most visible outward sign of etiquette in a karate class is the bowing and kneeling, even to an adversary. In Japanese this is called rei and means “respect.”
“It’s about propriety, good manners, consideration, and hierarchy,” Amos says.” It’s about when to speak and when not to speak. It’s about knowing your place within the dojo and understanding the human condition as well as empathetic emotion. Bowing is humility.”
Amos reminds us that knowing your place in a military setting is crucial. Breaking rank could, as he says “sever the thread in the battlefield.” The original meaning of breaking rank was a straight line of soldiers falling into disarray and causing chaos. Severing the thread on a battlefield would be similar to an employee not using the lines of protocol and going over his superior’s head.
High ranked students should nurture the lower ranked students. In turn, the lower ranked students should appreciate, accept and respect the higher ranked students.
Karate practitioners greet each other with the word "oss." They come to class 10 to 15 minutes early, with a clean body and pressed karategi (or uniform). Some dojos require participants to wash their feet prior to entering class and street shoes are not allowed in the training space. Chewing gum, wearing watches, or idle talk is forbidden.
In business, etiquette is professionalism. We wouldn't dream of going to work in our gym pants, smelling bad, or with dirty fingers. A clear organizational structure is also important, as it allows for better communication, clear reporting, and efficiency. Salespeople understand etiquette and strive to make the client's life easier. They are respectful of the client's time. They answer emails and calls promptly. They aren't too personal, yet not too distant. There is a spirit of respect.
5. Guard against hot-blooded courage – “There is no first strike in karate,” wrote founder of Shotokan karate, Gichin Funakoshi. Some translate this as “guard against impetuous courage.” Amos says that the actual translation is “energetic blood,” and reminds us that the use of ‘guard against’ is key.
“This may well happen to you,” Amos says. “You’ll feel the power. The training will give you the tools to be courageous, but watch yourself, handle with care, and don’t forget humility.”
In business, overconfidence or impulsivity could lead to bankruptcy. Jean-Marie Messier’s disastrous leadership of Vivendi can only be categorized as impetuous and overconfident. The way he turned a once highly lucrative utility company into a heavily indebted global media group could be seen as the epitome of irresponsibility. He overpaid for businesses as he ventured into new industries he knew little about. Stretching an organization too thin removes any reserves needed to withstand stock market fluctuations, which was particularly true for Vivendi following the bursting of the dot-com bubble. Having multiple income streams is key in a downturn. In this Covid-19 era, this rings particularly true.
People with impetuous courage put themselves and others at risk. Stay away from them. Don't get in a car with them, don’t marry them, and certainly don’t do business with them.
These five principles were created and molded to form a warrior whose wisdom would help to bring about a better, more peaceful world. A better world is one where frameworks exist to contain and help us strive for our better selves. By applying these timeless karate principles to our businesses, we can increase our chances of success.
Chasing Bushido: How I Learned to Just Say Osu by my sensei Richard Amos is a book that I devoured in two days. It’s entertaining and I recommend it to a general audience because it covers themes of resilience, persistence, humility, and mastery, and does not get into the details of karate to such an extent that it would lose non-martial artists.
