Mike Swain, a world renowned Judoka and 4 time Olympian speaks about judo, Afghanistan and Film Annex’s initiatives on the ground here. Mike Swain has been a World Champion in Judo and the first North American male at it. Judo is his passion and a part of his life. He is also an entrepreneur who started his own company subsequently. Mike also shares  a bit about Judo’s philosophy. Judo is a martial arts form that originated in Japan. It was also the first martial arts form to be included in the Olympics in 1964. The philosophy behind Judo is maximum efficiency with minimal effort and mutual benefit. Judo bouts are not only about competition on the mat but also about learning and growing of the opponents as they pit themselves against each other.

His company is called Swain Sports that does business in martial arts mats. As an owner, he has a certain credibility being a champion judo player as well as an Olympian. His company uses a lot of interaction on social media to publicize and directly reach out to his customers. He believes that by reaching out, he can build direct relationship and trust with his customer. He also talks about empathy being an important factor in leadership. As a business owner, he tries to look at his product from the point of view of the customer. He is also committed to reaching out to his customer and share knowledge. He shares a lot of videos so that they can see things for themselves. He also believes that sharing good information with the customer is very important for the successful marketing of products on social media.

He talks about the way in Judo. He explains how he has an uncanny ability to read people and their character just by touching them as he does in Judo. It is difficult to explain but just the way a person holds his body gives him insights into the person’s mind and behavior. This ability comes to great use in real life as well as in business.

He also shares his views about Judo in Central Asia. He believes that people there understand combat and philosophy of human nature that is very crucial in martial arts like judo. He believes that judo can be a great way to help their country mend especially as they emerge from long drawn out wars. He especially mentioned the pride he left in announcing the participation of a Saudi Arabian athlete in the London Olympics.

To see his complete interview, do watch the video above.

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