The Kick of Karate

When I tell people I'm a black belt in Karate, most look at me as if I'm nuts. They can't believe I spend $85 a month and three nights a week to do battle in one of those sweaty, stuffy, frill-free schools. Others chop the air and emit the high-pitched wail made famous by Bruce Lee. After six years of this I just shake my head and think, "What a bozo!"

Karate is not about feisty little tumbler superheroes who always prevail against the bad guys. Karate is about balance. Part physical, part spiritual, it offers a way for hyperstressed, hyperactive, hyperachievers to find a peaceful, powerful center.

Mike McCue is the 28-year-old founder and CEO of Paper Software, Inc., which creates products for virtual reality on the Internet. A black sash, he's studied Closed Crane Kung-fu since 1985. "Starting up a business is like being in a long sparring match. You get hit, you get surprised. Kung-fu has trained me to keep going. You learn more, practice more, work harder. You keep your eye on the goal."

The martial arts have as many dimensions as they have students. And there are 10 million people practicing the martial arts in this country -- last year 1.5 million new participants signed up for classes.

What they'll find depends on what they're looking for. For many, of course, Karate and the other martial arts build self-defense skills. For others, the study of Karate is a way to focus mentally, to clear your mind of the daily round of endless meetings, political skirmishes, and do-or-die deadlines. In any martial art, mental toughness is everything. Because once you're out on that floor, there's no turning back.

Afternoon, Day One: Walnut Creek, California

My kids ask me if I can do a spinning back kick," says Greg Schultz, 45, a financial adviser and a fourth-degree black belt. "I tell them they've been watching too many Steven Seagal pictures -- that's just Hollywood Karate."

I've traveled from Boston to see how Karate is taught at JKA Karate of California, a San Francisco dojo (school). Greg is one of the dojo's top students. He's also the head of two money management firms, Retirement Planning, Inc. and Asset Allocation Advisors, Inc. in Walnut Creek. Greg is one of several businesspeople I know who, year in and year out, devote their Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights to training in Karate.

Greg took up Karate in the fall of 1970, when he was a student at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Karate was exotic, and that was good enough reason to try it. But it wasn't until he left school for a year, at age 21, that he got hooked. He was waiting tables in Maui when a friend told him about the Hawaii Karate Association. There he discovered the discipline and structure that was missing from his beach-bum existence. It wasn't a spiritual thing, he insists. "Karate was just fun."

Karate is still fun. But it's different. "It's more of a personal quest," he says. "It has less and less to do with other people and more and more to do with me. I'm ultimately trying to test and push and improve myself. It's no longer a question of: `Can I kick faster than the other guy?' The question now is: `Can I kick faster?' Period."

I ask if he's learned anything from Karate that he's applied to his business life.

Recently, he replies, the top six students took the school's sensei (teacher), Kenichi Haramoto, out for his 53rd birthday. Beer and sake were flowing. So were the stories.

"I don't think Sensei fully appreciates the character building he's done for us. So we tried to convey some examples beyond the superficial elements of technique and conditioning. When it was my turn to speak I told them about my business philosophy, which I call the Haramoto approach to business. It's very simple. When you attack, you resolve never to retreat. Sensei has this focus of purpose where it's clear that if he's coming at you he won't take a step back. It really screws up your opponent's counterattack. It becomes a battle of wills.

"It's all tied together," he continues, "particularly in business, where you face a lot of obstacles and it consumes all your energy and you rarely have a clear path. You need to be really focused and have a resolve that cannot be shaken loose."

He pauses and leans back in his chair. "Maybe I'd have the same discipline even if I hadn't trained in Karate. But I doubt it. I believe it's made a huge difference."