Tzu your business

How lessons of  ” The Art of War” by Tzu Sun are relevant to succeeding in the business world

Written more than 2,000 years ago, The Art of War by the Chinese warrior Sun-Tzu is still a text that’s well-regarded for its formula for victory. It is written with a mystical style of speech, and the choice of words help make it relatively easy to transfer the lessons to more than just the battlefield.

The ultimate purpose of the text is to show how a leader can use psychology to achieve his goals. For the purpose of this discussion, the word "psychology" has a few meanings, including how other people think, your own thought processes, as well as the situations that are created by  psychology and ultimately human nature. This thought process is as effective in business as in war situations because in both situations people make their moves and act based upon their own nature.

While there is no guaranteed formula for success or a guaranteed strategy to avoid defeat in either war or business, there are certain traits that lead to success. Leaders on the battlefield and in the boardroom are both able to adapt to certain situations.  For example, the game of negotiation isn’t won by arguing. Rather negations are won by planning and adapting; likewise, no two victories in war or business are the same, their form adapts to the factors of each specific situation.
Here are a few of Sun-Tzo’s principles, and how they relate to the business world.

Winning Without Battle
Sun-Tzo abhorred the idea of casualties being a byproduct of victory and wrote, “Thus those skilled in war subdue the enemy's army without battle ... . They conquer by strategy.”
In other words, even if you don’t have the same resources your competition has, you can still succeed. The key is to not pit yourself directly against a larger, stronger opponent.  Rather, use guile and learn to use your enemies’ strengths against them and to capitalize upon their efforts.

Knowledge
“Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles you will never be in peril. When you are ignorant of the enemy, but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal. If ignorant both of your enemy and yourself, you are certain in every battle to be in peril.”
In business, it is vital that you know and understand the procedures, policies and tactics of your competition.  At the same time, it is crucial that you have an honest appraisal of your own strengths and weaknesses.  ASWOT analysis is aimed at providing precisely this perspective of both your business and your competitor’s.  SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.  You can learn about your competition by physically visiting them and using their products.  Take an honest look at what they do and compare it to what you do.  You can then capitalize on your strengths and take steps to fix your weaknesses to avoid any competitive threat.

Be Prepared
While this is a common lesson that many learn while growing up, it’s one that has been around for thousands of years. In fact, two centuries ago Sun-Tzu wrote:
“To ... not prepare is the greatest of crimes; to be prepared beforehand for any contingency is the greatest of virtues.”
Whether speaking of warfare or business, unexpected events can cause the most damage. It’s important to commit time, capital, and people resources to planning and preparation. While the process may not seem very productive compared to just doing something, it is actually an investment in future success.  While planning in business is important, it’s just as important to plan and prepare as an individual with your own goals and one- to three-year plans.

Speed
“What is of the greatest importance in war is extraordinary speed: One cannot afford to neglect opportunity.”
Your customers want 24/7/365 service and instant gratification.  Asking a client to wait for you to complete a project, bring a product to market, or make yourself available to help them is akin to inviting them to visit your competitor.  Speed makes you a leader rather than a “me-too” follower in the competitive business environment.

Vision and Leadership
“The general must be first in the toils and fatigues of the army. In the heat of summer he does not spread his parasol, nor in the cold of winter don thick clothing... . He waits until the army's wells have been dug and only then drinks; until the army's food is cooked before he eats; until the army's fortifications have been completed, to shelter himself.”
Leadership cannot be overrated.  The most successful businesses have strong leadership that can rally the troops, motivate greater achievement and command the kind of respect that inspires others to willingly follow.  In business, words that aren’t backed up by action are seen as nothing more than idle chatter. However, managers who lead by example set the tone for success.

Staffing And Delegation
“A sovereign of high character and intelligence must be able to know the right man, should place the responsibility on him, and expect results.”
Finding and hiring the best people is important; and providing them with the opportunity to excel cannot be ignored.  By hiring smart, talented professionals you can feel confident delegating, which in turn leads to those individuals continually stepping up to the plate to deliver their best work.

Allies
“If an enemy has alliances, the problem is grave and the enemy's position strong; if he has no alliances, the problem is minor and the enemy's position weak.”
With like-minded allies, you’ll have the ability to pool resources and work together to achieve business goals. The idea is that it’s better to own 25 percent of something than 100 percent of nothing.
As you can see there are many lessons that can be applied to the business world, making this old text well worth studying.

Marketing warfare strategies

Marketing warfare strategies are a type of strategies, used in business and marketing, that try to draw parallels between business and warfare, and then apply the principles of military strategy to business situations, with competing firms considered as analogous to sides in a military conflict, and market share considered as analogous to the territory which is being fought over. It is argued that, in mature, low-growth markets, and when real GDP growth is negative or low, business operates as a zero-sum game. One person’s gain is possible only at another person’s expense. Success depends on battling competitors for market share.

The use of marketing warfare strategies

Strategy is the organized deployment of resources to achieve specific objectives, something that business and warfare have in common. In the 1980s business strategists realized that there was a vast knowledge base stretching back thousands of years that they had barely examined. They turned to military strategy for guidance. Military strategy books like The Art of War by Sun Tzu, On War by von Clausewitz, and The Little Red Book by Mao Zedong became business classics.

From Sun Tzu they learned the tactical side of military strategy and specific tactical prescriptions. In regard to what business strategists call "first-mover advantage", Sun Tzu said: "Generally, he who occupies the field of battle first and awaits an enemy is at ease, he who comes later to the scene and rushes into the fight is weary." From Von Clausewitz they learned the dynamic and unpredictable nature of military strategy. Clausewitz felt that in a situation of chaos and confusion, strategy should be based on flexible principles. Strategy comes not from formula or rules of engagement, but from adapting to what he called "friction" (minute by minute events). From Mao Zedong they learned the principles of guerrilla warfare.

The first major proponents of marketing warfare theories was Philip Kotler^[1] and J. B. Quinn.^[2] In an early description of business military strategy, Quinn claims that an effective strategy: "first probes and withdraws to determine opponents' strengths, forces opponents to stretch their commitments, then concentrates resources, attacks a clear exposure, overwhelms a selected market segment, builds a bridgehead in that market, and then regroups and expands from that base to dominate a wider field."

The main marketing warfare books were:

• Business War Games by Barrie James, 1984
• Marketing Warfare by Al Ries and Jack Trout, 1986
• Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun by Wess Roberts, 1987

By the turn of the century marketing warfare strategies had gone out of favour. It was felt that they were limiting. There were many situations in which non-confrontational approaches were more appropriate. The Strategy of the Dolphin was developed in the mid 1990s to give guidance as to when to use aggressive strategies and when to use passive strategies. Today most business strategists stress that considerable synergies and competitive advantage can be gained from collaboration, partnering, and co-operation. They stress not how to divide up the market, but how to grow the market. Such are the vicissitudes of business theories. At last, a recent contribution for understanding and using marketing warfare strategies is the visual business war game proposed by S. Goria^[3].

Marketing Warfare Strategies

• Offensive marketing warfare strategies - are used to secure competitive advantages; market leaders, runner-ups or struggling competitors are usually attacked
• Defensive marketing warfare strategies - are used to defend competitive advantages; lessen risk of being attacked, decrease effects of attacks, strengthen position
• Flanking marketing warfare strategies - Operate in areas of little importance to the competitor.
• Guerrilla marketing warfare strategies - Attack, retreat, hide, then do it again, and again, until the competitor moves on to other markets.
• Deterrence Strategies - Deterrence is a battle won in the minds of the enemy. You convince the competitor that it would be prudent to keep out of your markets.
• Pre-emptive strike - Attack before you are attacked. (see Defensive marketing warfare strategies for a description)
• Frontal Attack - A direct head-on confrontation. (see Offensive marketing warfare strategies for a description)
• Flanking Attack - Attack the competitor’s flank. (see Flanking marketing warfare strategies for a description)
• Sequential Strategies - A strategy that consists of a series of sub-strategies that must all be successfully carried out in the right order.
• Alliance Strategies - The use of alliances and partnerships to build strength and stabilize situations.
• Position Defense - The erection of fortifications. (see Defensive marketing warfare strategies for a description)
• Mobile defense - Constantly changing positions. (see Defensive marketing warfare strategies for a description)
• Encirclement strategy - Envelop the opponents position. (see Offensive marketing warfare strategies for a description)
• Cumulative strategies - A collection of seemingly random operations that, when complete, obtain your objective.
• Counter-offensive - When you are under attack, launch a counter-offensive at the attacker’s weak point. (see Defensive marketing warfare strategies for a description)
• Strategic withdrawal - Retreat and regroup so you can live to fight another day. (see Defensive marketing warfare strategies for a description)
• Flank positioning - Strengthen your flank. (see Defensive marketing warfare strategies for a description)
• Leapfrog strategy - Avoid confrontation by bypassing enemy or competitive forces. (see Offensive marketing warfare strategies for a description)

Companies typically use many strategies concurrently, some defensive, some offensive, and always some deterrents. According to the business literature of the period, offensive strategies were more important that defensive one. Defensive strategies were used when needed, but an offensive strategy was requisite. Only by offensive strategies, were market gains made. Defensive strategies could at best keep you from falling too far behind.

The marketing warfare literature also examined leadership and motivation, intelligence gathering, types of marketing weapons, logistics, and communications.

Learning from Napoleon

To understand how business strategists used military strategies, we can look at the innovations of Napoleon and apply them to business situations. Napoleon made four key innovations. They were 1) increase his army’s marching rate, 2) organize the army into self contained units, 3) live off the country, and 4) attack the opponent’s lines of supply. All four provide lessons for business strategists:

1) By increasing the speed that the army marched and fought, they created a military advantage. They could implement their tactics faster than the enemy. Hitler used the same strategy with his Blitzkrieg. The enemy was overrun before they were able to organize a viable resistance. But once these innovations were used, other armies made adjustments and the nature of warfare changed. All armies had to increase their pace of operations to be effective. Businesses, like armies must operate at a faster pace than their competitors in order to have a competitive advantage. They must develop and introduce products faster, implement strategies faster, and respond to environmental factors faster. They must be proactive.

2) Napoleon returned to the cohort organization of the Greek phalanx. These were self contained fighting units of citizens that knew each other in daily life, and had a wide variety of skills and various skill levels. Under the Roman Empire the phalanx was replaced by specialized legions containing 100 fighters (centurion). Each legion had a specialized skill (such as the archer legions from Thrace). For more than 100 years, businesses have taken Adam Smith’s advice and organized by functional specialization, just like the Roman legions did. Accountants populated the finance department and technicians populated the operations department. According to Adam Smith this is the most efficient way of organizing. But as the speed of business increases we need a more flexible system. We use cross functional teams (like the Greek phalanx) that have enough breadth of knowledge to see the big picture, are objective enough to get accurate and unbiased perceptions of environmental factors, and are flexible enough to act quickly.

3) Napoleon’s armies lived off the country instead of bringing supplies with them. This allowed them to march faster. The disadvantage is that stealing from the local population created resentment. But this was a longer term problem. It could be dealt with when the time came. The short term advantage outweighed the long term disadvantage. In business we no longer stock inventory based on an EOQ model. We use a Just In Timemodel and this reduces costs considerably. However it makes us vulnerable to our supply channel partners. Just as Napoleon had to manage the local people that supplied him his provisions, businesses today have found supply chain management to be a critically important part of doing business.

4) Striking at the opponents lines of supply is known as a flanking strategy. It is effective because it eliminates the need to fight the enemy head-on. An attack on a poorly defended supply line can render the whole enemy army unable to fight. In business today we attempt to do this with exclusivity agreements with suppliers (if you sell Pepsi, you can’t sell Coke). If Pepsi has an exclusivity agreement with Pizza Hut, Coke will effectively be eliminated from that part of the market.

References

1.  (Kotler, P. and Singh, R. (1981) "Marketing warfare in the 1980s",Journal of Business Strategy, winter 1981, pp. 30-41
2.  (Quinn, J. (1980) Strategies for change|Strategies for change: Logical Incrementalism, Irwin, Homewood Il
3.  (Goria, S. (2011) "Information display from board wargame for marketing strategy identification", International Competitive Intelligence Conference: Delivering excellence in Competitive Intelligence thinking and practice in a challenging environment, Bad Nauheim, Germany

Terrain that matters

IN WAR AND BUSINESS, IT’S THE TERRAIN THAT MATTERS - Ivey Business Journal

Add the dictum, “Know the terrain” to “Know your customer” and you’ve got the two most important principles that a manager needs to follow to compete successfully. At first, and perhaps even later on, the playing field may not be level, but managers who consider the observations of this Ivey Business Journal regular contributor will surely be able to compete with any player, under any conditions.

Sun Tzu’s The Art of War (300 BC.–500 BC), Niccolò Machiavelli’s The Prince (1532) and Carl von Clausewitz’s On War (1832) have become popular with executives seeking leadership and management insights that might improve the performance and competitiveness of their enterprises and, along the way, advance their own careers. I use Tzu and Machiavelli in a capstone course for MBA students called “The CEO,” and have found them very useful in bringing out key executive principles. I am going to add von Clausewitz in the future.
The CEO course involves 10 separate, two-hour, question-and-answer sessions with 10 different CEOs, as well as considerable additional classroom time to discuss what the CEOs had to say. Tzu, Machiavelli and von Clausewitz make a point that the CEOs continually reference and reinforce. In competitive activities like war, sport and business, knowing the terrain can make all the difference between winning and losing, success and failure.

For executives, substitute the expression “business conditions” for the word “terrain” and you have the concept. If you are the one calling the shots, it is critical you know and understand the world around you that everyone must take as the same given. The terrain is the playing field on which you and everyone else competes, over which no one has control, but on which outcomes often totally depend. Decision makers who do not know and understand the terrain better be lucky.

Listen to Machiavelli on terrain. “He [the prince] should, therefore, never take his mind from this exercise of war, and in peacetime he must train himself more than in time of war.…He must also learn the nature of the terrain, and know how mountains slope, how valleys open, how plains lie, and understand the nature of rivers and swamps; and he should devote much attention to such activities. Such knowledge is useful in two ways: first, one learns to know one’s own country and can better understand how to defend it; second, with the knowledge and experience of the terrain, one can easily comprehend the characteristics of any other terrain that it is necessary to explore for the first time.…A prince who lacks this ability lacks the most important quality in a leader; because this skill teaches you to find the enemy, choose a campsite, lead troops, organize them for battle, and besiege towns to your advantage.” Terrific advice for executives: never take your mind off defending market you have and taking market from others; know the terrain you defend and the terrain over which you will advance.

Sun Tzu devotes a chapter to terrain and the appropriate, associated tactics and strategies. “We may distinguish six kinds of terrain: accessible ground, entangling ground, temporizing ground, narrow passes, precipitous heights, positions at a great distance from the enemy.” Von Clausewitz offers: “There are certain constant factors in any engagement that will affect it to some extent…[one of] these factors [is] the locality or terrain…which can be resolved into a combination of the geographical surroundings and nature of the ground.” Notice the use of the expression “constant factors.” That is the notion of those things that cannot be controlled in a competitive environment; hence, they must be taken as a given by all competitors. Von Clausewitz also devotes a chapter to terrain, which he argues “bears a close and ever-present relation to warfare.”

Tzu, Machiavelli and von Clausewitz were in the war business when war was mainly hand-to-hand-style infantry fighting. Not surprisingly, terrain to them was things like the geography of the land, mountains, lakes and rivers, the weather, the fullness of the moon and the length of the day. Each must clearly be taken as is by the warring parties and exploited through tactics and strategies. For warring executives fighting over the same market, the terrain that must be grasped and then exploited includes demographics, politics, the economy and technology. That is the playing field on which enterprises succeed or fail but over which they have very little say.

First, demographics. Auguste Comte, the French positivist philosopher and coiner of the term “sociology,” famously said, “demographics is destiny.” Every dollar of business revenue involves either directly or indirectly selling something to someone. That makes it important to know who the someones are, how old they are, what sex they are, where they are and so on; the stuff of demographics. It is not possible to run a good business and at the same time ignore its demographics.

Second, politics. Politics is the machinery through which societies determine what the laws and penalties will be. Von Clausewitz’s most famous line links politics and war: “War is not merely a political act, but also a political instrument, a continuation of political relations, a carrying out of the same by other means.”

If you want go run a good business, you better be on top of the terrain that is determined by the political process: taxes; rules, regulations and standards; corporate, trade and securities law; subsidies and grants. And, as well, do not overlook that government plays a huge rule in economic growth, employment, inflation, exports, imports, exchange rates and interest rates.
Third, the economy. The economy is that vast space where goods and services are produced, sold and consumed, jobs are created and destroyed, prices are set and funds flow from savers to investors in stock, bond and money markets. For executives, the key components of the economic terrain are aggregate demand, growth, employment, labour availability, inflation, exchange rates, interest rates, credit, savings and investment. Decision-makers who constantly misjudge the economy will not keep their businesses out of trouble. Time spent on the economic terrain is time well spent.

Fourth, technology. Technology is simply the way we get things done that need to be done. Knowing and properly reacting to where the technology relevant to a business is headed is essential to survival and prosperity.
If you were in the watch business and you did not make the shift from mechanical movement to quartz crystal in a timely fashion (no pun intended), you probably did not make it. The same if you were in the music business and you did not make the transition from pressed vinyl records to tape to disc, or the computation business and you did not make the transition from the slide rule to electronics.
Executives should spend a lot of time thinking about how they make and do the things customers pay them for and how those ways will change in the future. This is one train no business can afford to miss.

One of the great business books of all time is My Years with General Motorsby Alfred P. Sloan Jr. Bill Gates said, “My Years with General Motors is probably the best book to read if you want to read only one book about business.” High praise!
Sloan nails the importance of business conditions. “[Executives make business judgements.] The big work behind business judgement is in finding and acknowledging the facts and circumstances concerning technology, the market, and the like in their continuously changing forms.… The field was open to all; technical knowledge flows from a common storehouse of scientific progress; the techniques of production are an open book, and the related instruments of production are available to all. The market is world-wide and there are no favorites except those chosen by the customer.” And he knew why General Motors was in business: “General Motors is an engineering organization. Our operation is to cut metal and in so doing to add value to it.” A goal everyone could get their mind around. No wonder GM came to dominate the business world. How they lost their way is another story.

Sun Tzu: the art of business

“Order or disorder depends on organization; courage or cowardice on circumstances; strength or weakness on dispositions.”

Who Was Sun Tsu?

Sun Tzu, also known as Sun Tze or Sun Wu in other translations, was a military general serving under King Helü of Wu but his life is placed somewhere in the period of 722–481 BC. He is a historical figure whose authenticity is questioned by historians. Modern scholars accept his existence and place the completion of The Art of War in the Warring States Period (476–221 BC), based on the descriptions of warfare in the text, and on the similarity of text’s prose to other works completed in the early Warring States period.

Whatever you may want to believe, the book is not only standard reading for military theorists and many great generals throughout history but has also become increasingly popular among political leaders and those in business management. Despite its title, The Art of War addresses strategy in a broad fashion, touching upon public administration and planning. Although the text outlines theories of battle, it also advocates diplomacy and cultivating relationships with other nations as essential to the health of a state.

How It Relates To Business

Are the principles of war really different from business? Planning, negotiation, outflanking, victory and restoration are key to both war and business. How often do you hear, “I’m fighting the client on these points,” “it’ll be a real battle when it comes to getting paid for all of the changes they ordered,” “we need to negotiate a few points with the client before all hell breaks out,” “that ended up as a victory instead of a bloody defeat” and other statements you’ll witness or speak during and after a project?

Maybe we’re just too familiar with militaristic sayings that abound in our society. Could it be the popularity of war movies? Certainly the fondness for Schwartzenegger movies have their effect on sayings bandied about offices, such as when something goes horribly wrong and someone calls out, “get to da choppa!”

One of Tsu’s quotes, “the supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting,” encompasses the ultimate goal of a business negotiation. While Tsu also covers the use of deception in war, business should be absolutely transparent. The approach and process should be the utmost between client and vendor or worker and boss, but does that truly happen in reality? More often interpersonal relationships in business is more of a chess game. Some say it’s greed and fear that drives all business relationships. A sad view on business, indeed.

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle,” wrote Tsu. Does this point to the need for transparency in all dealings or just that every consideration and angle must be understood before acting?

Acts Of War!

When a client makes an outrageous request, perhaps for free work, it’s an attack on your livelihood. When scope creep begins in a project, he is invading your agreement. When milestones are not met with the required payments, your treaties have been broken. Acts of aggression!

“Hence that general is skilful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skilful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack,”according to Tsu.

When asked for free work, remind the client that you have hard costs that must be covered or even the “free” job costs you money. When scope creep enrages you, confront the client with costs associated with such creep. Communicate to the “enemy” the costs of aggressive intrusion and breaking the treaty (or contract, so to speak).

“Order or disorder depends on organization; courage or cowardice on circumstances; strength or weakness on dispositions.”

All negotiations start with your confidence in not only your ability to complete a project with superior results but in being paid for those results and the efforts behind them. When being asked to work for free, whether upfront for whatever reasons, or increasing your work output for no extra fee, which lowers your final tally, you must find your courage and strength and control the dispositions or you will lose. In war you lose your life. In business, you lose your livelihood, although what is it really all that different except one ends your suffering quickly.

“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.”

Simply, know your business before negotiating. Go into talks having won because you know your bottom line! There will be pushing and taking and giving and meeting half way here and there. Unless you have a posted price list for your services, you are in the business of negotiating. Even with that, you are in the business to survive and make a profit.

“Tsu” Your Company!

“A leader leads by example, not by force,” Tsu advises future generals. Having been in a position of leadership and in positions of being led, I agree wholeheartedly as I’m sure you do, too!

Likewise, “when one treats people with benevolence, justice, and righteousness, and reposes confidence in them, the army will be united in mind and all will be happy to serve their leaders,” Tsu also wrote.

This deals with employee engagement. Who will work harder and with more loyalty? An employee who is at odds with the company because they feel threatened or because they feel they are part of the team and valued? At one large corporation for which I worked, they posted manifestos through the hallways and departments stating how the employees were “number one.” Unfortunately, employees were treated like “number two,” if you know what I mean. Engagement was almost non-existent and despite yearly surveys where employees rated treatment and confidence very low, the company refused to address the concerns. Profits sunk, layoffs increased, engagement continued to sink and eventually the company will lose the battle against competitors.

Can you count on your employer for fair treatment? Tsu obviously has a unique view: “All warfare is based on deception.”

Unfortunately, you may, if without fear of termination, want to go into the company cafeteria and shout your displeasure with how employees are treated. That’s not good advice and you won’t find it in The Art of War. However, along those lines, my uncle, as I entered my first corporate job, advised me to, “keep every piece of paper.”

I followed his advice and found that the deception of having the backup of information, although some might label it as evidence and Tsu would call it weaponry, was vital in conflicts that arise in the workplace. The deception is doing one’s work with a happy smile and still locking the door behind you. A famous passage from some Sinbad movie is, “trust in Allah but tie up your camel.” Good advice.

As for the time when you must use such paperwork (i.e., emails, notes, post-its, corporate memos, etc.), my favored advice from Tsu is, “let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.” Let them know you mean business by feeling the tip of your spear.

Tough times force businesses to adapt but it is HOW they do it that promotes their future sustainability. To quote Sun Tsu, “anger may in time change to gladness; vexation may be succeeded by content. But a kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life.”

Are Coworkers “Frenemies?”

In “office politics,” there are odd interpersonal relationships between people with different personality types. As sad as it is, you have to agree that in many office situations, large and small, there are clashes between coworkers that eventually spiral out of control and someone has to win while someone has to lose. It is not always the one who is right who prevails. As with warring nations, there are allies one must seek and with who you must bond for strength and protection. The employee who stands alone is vulnerable.

Think about your present or past situation in the office. Tsu has several thoughts that will help reign in dealing with that on a daily basis.

“Supreme excellence consists of breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting.”

Discourse in an office is met not with siding with the party that may be right but with the quickest and easiest way of ending such discourse. It is often the person who is easiest to replace who is sacrificed.

In many office situations, especially in hard economic times, those who you deal with on a daily basis and share close quarters, you will call your “friends.” Too often I hear people ask me why their “friends” have abandoned them once they have left their former company. We all experience it. Is it out of fear for one’s own existence or just proximity that creates bonds so easily broken? There is no easy explanation; only the realization that it exists and must be a consideration in all dealings in the ugly world of office politics and the allies one has to collect.

Some say the best way to stay out of trouble is to stay below the radar. In fact, it is, in my experience, those who kept their heads low in the trenches and stayed silent that survived. It was those who charged the guns of challenge and rose to champion causes of change and innovation that fell.

Tsu advises, “engage people with what they expect; it is what they are able to discern and confirms their projections. It settles them into predictable patterns of response, occupying their minds while you wait for the extraordinary moment — that which they cannot anticipate.”

“When you surround an army, leave an outlet free. Do not press a desperate foe too hard.”

If you press a coworker or supervisor too hard, even in a situation where you are in the right, you will be viewed as “combative” or “confrontational.” While it is true that you should protect your career in situations where you are accused of wrongdoing but know you are innocent of any charges, cornering your accuser, especially if they are in a management position. Part of the battle is to overcome and succeed but you must leave your foe an out and let them save face.

I had a boss who liked to call people into her office and accuse them of some wrongdoing, make them breakdown into tears and then build them up again. Yes, it was sick and disturbed and her self-affirmation game was against corporate rules but no one would dare turn her in to human resources for doing so. When my turn came, she spoke about “perceptions about me.”

I argued that reality and actions were not perception and perceptions were groundless. I’ve always been a skilled debater and she was no match for me. By the time I left her office, she would be in tears. The only thing that was accomplished was she set her sights on destroying me and it made my future workdays miserable. Had I just accepted her little game, she would have been satisfied and there would be no win or loss as far as the battle was concerned.

“Ultimate excellence lies not in winning every battle, but in defeating the enemy without ever fighting.”

“To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself.”

If I had just let her have her odd psychological win, resulting emails about the incident would have provided the ammunition for a greater battle. In essence, she would have handed me the bullets on a silver platter.

“Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.”

There were incidents over my career where I knew I had to use my enemies to tie their own nooses. After heinous meetings, I found I could either use their own confused emails against them or send an email that lured them forward into a trap. In one instance, I wrote about the disbelief of an action on the part of one enemy and sent it to another in a “divide and conquer” move. The email was returned with enough input as to act as a piece of evidence against the other person. Sometimes you must form an alliance with your enemies against a common foe. The old saying is, “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” That wasn’t Sun Tsu, as far as I know but it fits into his teachings.

“If you wait by the river long enough, the bodies of your enemies will float by.”

Everyone eventually gets what’s coming to them. I’ve seen horrid managers who seem to cruise through their careers. I’ve cursed the powers for letting good people leave or be fired due to these wastes of human flesh but, I have also seen these people eventually fall and they fall hard, never to regain the same position, money or power and to them, that is worse then death.

“He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot, will be victorious.”

Sometimes, you just have to let things go. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Even small battle have a winner and a loser. Any general will tell you that small skirmishes will only drag out a war and be too costly. Actually, Tsu has another apt quote on that (as if you couldn’t guess): “There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.”

Be A Leader By Example

“When one treats people with benevolence, justice, and righteousness, and reposes confidence in them, the army will be united in mind and all will be happy to serve their leaders.”

“Hence a commander who advances without any thought of winning personal fame and withdraws in spite of certain punishment, whose only concern is to protect his people and promote the interests of his ruler, is the nation’s treasure. Because he fusses over his men as if they were infants, they will accompany him into the deepest valleys; because he fusses over his men as if they were his own beloved sons, they will die by his side. If he is generous with them and yet they do not do as he tells them, if he loves them and yet they do not obey his commands, if he is so undisciplined with them that he cannot bring them into proper order, the will be like spoiled children who can be put to no good use at all.”

There was a general, although I don’t remember who, that insisted he live like his soldiers, eating the same food, living in the same tent, wearing the same clothing and suffering the same hours and elements. He said it was so he would know how far they could be pushed. Aside from that knowledge, he had the side effect of having his army admire and respect him and so, they fought harder and followed all of his orders without question.

Think about when difficult assignments come your way. Are you given a task that is impossible and your manager walks away, expecting it to be done without question? How much grumbling do you do? How many shortcuts do you take? Do you truly care about winning?

“The control of a large force is the same principle as the control of a few men: it is merely a question of dividing up their numbers.”

As a leader, it is important to play to people’s strengths. Whether a large department or small, dividing numbers and assigning jobs based on people’s strengths will create a strong and effective force.

Is one designer great at type but terrible at color? Pair them with someone who is the opposite and the team will create top level work. Create “squads” of people to work as a team, based on individual strengths and the whole will be stronger and more productive then just the individuals.

When The Battle Is Over

So, is war truly like business? In war we see the best and worst of humanity. There is cruelty, barbarism, sadism, heroism and self-sacrifice in both. Wars eventually end and the rebuilding begins. Every conqueror in history has always kept an eye towards what happens when the enemy is vanquished. How trade and commerce and normalcy will be restored under changed territorial lines. Over the past couple of millennium, leaders have realized the truth of an aforementioned quote, “… a kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life.”

In business there are liars, backstabbers, thieves, scammers, ruthless people, sadists, heroes, mentors and those who seek to innovate for the good of the company and coworkers.

“The general who advances without coveting fame and retreats without fearing disgrace,” as Tsu wrote, “whose only thought is to protect his country and do good service for his sovereign, is the jewel of the kingdom.”

It was said after ten years of the Vietnam War, that battlefield medical actions and innovation helped evolve the treatments and knowledge of the medical field by over 100 years due to the forced need to keep the wounded alive. When dealing with bullet and shrapnel wounds, front line doctors and nurses had to rely on quick innovative methods to save lives. Experimentation was the only avenue available when a soldier teetered on the edge of death and traditional methods of medicine just wouldn’t work. War, in this case, pushed innovation out of necessity. In business, survival should also drive innovation.

Unfortunately, there are those who stop at nothing to suppress innovation, control power and destroy others merely for self-satisfaction. The “enemy,” so to speak. If you wish to survive their declaration of war upon you and emerge victorious from their attacks and campaign of battles, I suggest you pick up a copy of Sun Tsu: The Art of War. There are numerous books and articles available on becoming a better businessperson. You’ll find most are based on the man who said, “Thus we may know that there are five essentials for victory: (1) He will win who knows when to fight and when not to fight. (2) He will win who knows how to handle both superior and inferior forces. (3) He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks. (4) He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared. (5) He will win who has military capacity and is not interfered with by the sovereign.”

 Meet the Author:

Speider Schneider