Pete Wilkins
First impressions can be deceiving. Read Pete Wilkins’ resume and your first thought is “macho man.” After all, he was an outside linebacker for the New England Patriots and is a present-day Aikido Black Belt and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Brown Belt instructor. But look more closely and you’ll find that he’s a lot more meaningful than he is macho. Pete first found Aikido in 1990 and his life was immediately transformed. For outsiders, Aikido appears to be a martial art of strength, skill and power, but for Pete it’s about dignity, integrity, accountability and self-discovery. Pretty profound when you put it that way, isn’t it?
The commitment to individual development and success that Aikido brings to Pete’s personal life directly applies to his professional career as well. Simply put, under his leadership, people, processes and systems improve. He has more than 17 years experience in business transformational consulting, having spent time at PriceWaterhouse and Deloitte Consulting before founding his own leadership development and team-performance company. He is particularly skilled at building high-performance teams, developing people and leading complex multi-site programs. Pete earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Idaho, at the same time as achieving an honorable mention All-American in football.
As a new dad, Pete is on another journey of self discovery – one that can’t be found in a Dojo – yet utilizes everything he’s learned there. He, his wife Brittiony and son Elijah have put down roots in Seattle. When he’s not spending quality time with them - or tackling complex business problems - you’ll find him in the Dojo, showing kids that what can start as a love of flips and rolls in the front yard can in fact be something life-altering. You can call that macho, meaningful, or a combination of both.
