Sun Tzu and The Art of War

The universality of The Art of War is remarkable. I found it to be applicable in various aspects of life and will always keep it handy as a guidebook. For I feel this is one of those texts that would give different insight with every read. Some of the themes that jumped out and struck me were creating an understanding of our selves and the environment, preparation and discipline.

Sun Tzu states that the general should know himself and the enemy in order to be victorious (Page 19). I believe that holds true for most roles that we play in our professional and personal lives. As a manager in a business, we need to have a deep understanding of our organization’s strengths and weaknesses. Only then will we be able to devise an appropriate strategy. It is equally imperative to understand the strong and weak points of our competitors. The Art of War also discusses the knowledge of Terrain (Page 55) as essential for any endeavor. We so often hear about companies in the business world making decisions of venturing into an unknown territory without going into detailed analysis of the market dynamics. Ikea made some hasty decisions early on to enter some European countries only to back-track later. Nokia’s exit from the Japanese cellular-phone industry is a recent example. Even in our personal lives it is crucial for us to base our decisions after careful analysis of how the various choices fit in with our goals and objectives. I find myself engaged in such deliberation these days and The Art of War among other books in this seminar have strengthened my resolve that in order to be successful, we need to do something that we have the skill-set for and with which we are at peace internally.

Another important take away from this text for me was the belief that we can never emphasize enough on preparation. A lot of the battles are won even before the fight starts. In business situations, we may find are selves in an unknown environment without adequate preparation. It is less favorable to have a ‘reactive’ strategy and with any situation, be it business or personal, sufficient preparation enables us to be two-steps ahead of the rest.

Related to the theme of preparation was the importance attributed to discipline throughout the book. The book goes into alarming examples of discipline that some of the Chinese generals held for their armies (the one on Page 55 stands out) and how they ensured that their orders were carried out. It is very important that the subordinates hold a certain degree of respect for the leader. The leader should make an attempt to befriend his followers but at the same time she should ensure that the respect and belief that they have for her is not compromised. It was interesting to read that the principles of people-management during those times were extremely similar to what gets taught in management programs these days. Something that really struck me was the crucial principle for a leader to be impartial. Having the experience of working in a developing country, I can vouch that nothing lowers morale in a team than a display of nepotism by the leader. The leader creates (in some cases) and protects the system. If the people working under her supervision believe that their performance will be awarded and they will not be unduly treated then they will be extremely loyal to the leader and the organization’s cause. This is how the team will become better than the sum of individuals and the leader would be able to move forward with her plans. All in all The Art of War was a thoroughly insightful read and I have feeling I will be referring to it on numerous occasions in future as well.