Soke's Corner

March 14, 2010

Dear TKFI members,

I am proud of all of you for demonstrating kindness, compassion, understanding and resolve. I am glad that all of you are part of my life. I admire, respect and cherish you as you provide me strength and faith to continue our journey together.

As many of you may already know, I am resigning from the AAU. I have spent over two decades serving in many capacities; from Executive Director, District Governor to National Board member. I have enjoyed working with the martial arts program as well as other sports programs. Nevertheless, my feelings toward the AAU, in particular Karate, have changed due to the methods of leadership of the Executive Committee. For this reason, I no longer have the passion or desire to serve the AAU in any capacity.

There are successful leaders who owe much of their success to a personal drive born of insecurity - the motivation to fill a selfish desire, which can manifest as unloving and inconsistant behaviour. Whenever this kind of behaviour exists in a leader, whatever its cause, this unavoidably sets the tone for the whole organization to be untrusting, cautious and insecure. If this situation is replicated throughout the organization, then inevitably the organization as a whole tends to be characterised in the same way.

I feel that karate-do provides us with positive tools that can manifest in successful leaders. A leader surrounds himself with decent, intelligent and capable people and is able to embrace and supports their decisions.

Everything happens for a reason, and I take this change as an opportunity to dedicate more time in serving all of you in our TKFI organization. It is my desire that love, compassion, spirituality, and ethical principles provide the platform for the formation and success of our organization.

Thank you in anticipation of your understanding and I apologise for any inconvenience my decision has caused you. I appreciate your loyalty, dedication and trust in me. I know that together we will continue to do the right thing in order to maintain the spirit and essence of karate-do.

In the spirit of Karate-do,
Soke Saito