Well, it’s not uncommon when we are running a business, we refer it as going to war. It’s a dog-eat-dog world after all we are in. Probably that is also why it’s not uncommon we hear that businessmen applies the strategies learnt from Sun Tzu’s The Art of War to their businesses.
This Chinese military treatise was written around the 6th century BC. Though so ancient, the tactics and strategies on how to win battles are still very applicable in the 21st century. It’s very much about how to think on our feet and catching the enemy off guard.
When I first read this book, I was already captivated by the introduction chapter of a lesson about managing by fear. The story told how Sun Tzu was teaching a group of ladies in the palace a spear dance to the sound of the drum. He placed the king’s 2 favorite concubines as the leaders of the group and when the ladies giggled & failed to follow his instructions, he had them beheaded.
He said, “If words of command are not clear and distinct, if orders are not thoroughly understood, the general is to blame. But if his orders are clear, and the soldiers disobey, then it is the fault of their officers.”
Next he placed another pair of leaders to replaced the beheaded concubines and this time when the drum was sounded, the girls danced the spear dance perfectly without a sound.
Extreme? Yes. But it does make a lot of sense when it comes to training soldiers to be disciplined.
Bimbo
