One of my hobbies, which I have just recently begun to practice, is judo.  Most people may be familiar with judo in its Olympic form or heard the name in some campy martial arts flick, but these mainstream representations tend to play down, or completely disregard the nonphysical aspects of judo.  Judo, and all of budo training, is about much more than self defense and throwing people around.  I feel that these principles (the nonphysical, not the throwing people around) can be applied in any aspect of life, particularly the workplace.  One of the fundamental beliefs of judo is that maximum effect should be achieved with minimum effort.  In the actual practice of the martial art this is represented by completing techniques that use your attackers momentum, balance, and strength against him or her, while expending very little of your own.  This probably does not sound very foreign to any financial manager or business owner.  Obviously, it is best to get the most out of a limited supply of resources.

Another facet of judo training, however, may not be so easily accepted by Western workers.  My training in judo has taught me that if you allow yourself to be affected by the products of your work, both successes and failures, you will impede your growth in that field.  Allowing a failure to come across as a personal attack, or using a success to inflate your ego, will only make you feel progressively more uncomfortable with where you are in your field.