Sometimes, we don’t want to think too hard about things. We use shortcuts and habits to deal with everyday problems. But this can also make us lazy and stuck in our ways. We stop seeing the possibilities and wonder of the world like children do. We only see things for what they are, not what they could be. This is called “cognitive fixedness.”
But what if we could use a different approach? One that turns problems into opportunities, and challenges into solutions? This is the idea behind mental Aikido, a creative way of thinking inspired by the martial art Aikido that redirects an opposing force into an aligned one. Mental Aikido teaches us to embrace the negative and use its energy to create something positive. It helps us to break free from our fixedness and see new perspectives.
This is what Fellows from The Global Leaders Institute’s 2023 Arts MBA Cohort did in a recent Digital Innovation Summit. They used mental Aikido to tackle a real-life problem: how to make the best of a year-long closure of Peabody Preparatory’s main performance venue. They worked in teams and devised innovative pitches to turn this setback into an advantage for the local community.
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