Sun Tzu's Art of War

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Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

Recommended bibliography: The Theory of Good Soldiers

For us, to study Confucianism, we have to go back and read The Analects. To study Taoist thought, you should go back and read Tao Te Ching. To study China's philosophy, you should go back to the Book of Changes. To study China's strategic thinking, you should go back and read The Art of War.

What is strategy? Strategy is first and foremost a way of thinking.

It is a method to optimally allocate and combine one's own resources and capabilities to achieve a certain goal in a specific environment.

Its purpose is to choose your choices that affect the future and guide your decision-making through systematic thinking. Tactics only solve the problem of how to fight, while strategy solves more critical problems such as whether to fight, who to fight, where to fight and when to fight.

Westerners must read On War, while orientals must read Sun Tzu's Art of War.

China people's strategic thinking can be summed up in four words-wisdom.

In a word, winning without fighting is the best. In other words, what if you have to fight? Fight with wisdom. Dare to fight, but also know how to fight. Play skillfully, play with your head. We should achieve the greatest victory at the least cost. "

Differences in strategic thinking between East and West

Look at the world now, Ukraine is fighting fiercely. And the previous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. . . . . Generally, it can reflect the differences in strategic thinking between East and West.

After World War II, the traditional strategic thinking in the West is the strategy of "massive retaliation" and the nuclear strategy formulated by the strategy of "ensuring mutual destruction". But these strategic thinking can't get out of the dead end of mutual destruction and mutual loss.

In the words of westerners themselves, the western strategic thinking and the strategic system based on it are facing a serious "collapse crisis"

The east is different. Sun Tzu's Art of War says that the most perfect strategy is one that can achieve the goal by defeating the enemy without fighting-the so-called enemy without fighting is also good. "

Therefore, today's world should use the oriental strategic wisdom represented by Sun Tzu's art of war to solve the strategic problems encountered by the West.

This is the truth in Sun Tzu's Art of War, such as "defeating the strong with softness", "defeating the strong with weakness", "defeating the many with less" and "defeating the strong with wisdom".

The key to this idea is that you have resources, strength and advantages, but I have to find a way to prevent you from playing. If you can't give play to your advantages, I can beat you.

First, it is best to win without fighting.

Second, what if you have to fight? Fight with wisdom. Dare to fight, but also know how to fight. Play skillfully, use your head and use your strategy. We should achieve the greatest victory at the least cost.

The formula is: win = strength × strategy "

Sword is inferior to man, and fencing is inferior to man.

-Invincible first

One rule of winning a war is not to think about winning first, to ensure that you don't lose first, and then to find a chance to beat your opponent.

Five things: five elements of strategic management

The first question of war theory is: What are the factors that determine the final outcome of war?

Sun Tzu's answer is "five things", namely "Tao", "Heaven", "Earth", "Jiang" and "Fa". These are also the five elements of strategic management.

way

Tao makes people harmonious and consistent.

Good vision and values must be extracted from the deepest needs of organizational members from the bottom up, rather than simply instilled in organizational members from the top down.

A few people see because they believe, and most people believe because they see.

This is especially true for enterprises, which is also a challenge that organizations often encounter in their development: when organizations are expanding rapidly, their core values are often diluted.

Long-term success must be the success of values.

Nadella was named "the most underestimated CEO" by Fortune magazine for six years in a row.

The data shows that only 4% of enterprises can restart the growth engine once they reach the stall point (the second curve).

The giant Microsoft is a company that has reached the stall point.

In just four years, Nadella rejuvenated this old enterprise and gave birth to a second curve, which finally revived Microsoft and re-emerged.

What is the secret?

One of the things Nadella did as the CEO of Microsoft was to refresh the mission of Microsoft.

In the first year, the most important task is to change the company culture.

Without the correct culture, the second curve business growth is futile.

A good enterprise must be a combination of factors such as the promotion of the times, outstanding leadership, organizational progress and the victory of values.

1.0 enterprises take opportunities as the core;

2.0 Enterprises take organization as the core;

3.0 Enterprises must take values as the core.

What is the ultimate meaning of enterprise existence?

It is to create social value and promote human progress.

Only enterprises that can create social value and promote human progress can win the recognition and respect of society and form a good interaction and strong voice with society.

Once the social value of an enterprise is negative, it will inevitably be spurned by the society under the accusation of thousands of people.

This is the Tao in Sun Tzu's Art of War.

sky

Sun Tzu said, "Heaven, Yin and Yang, cold and heat, time also." The sky is sunny day and night, cold and heat, and the changes of the four seasons.

"Sky" means "weather", which is extended to the current situation and general trend, that is, the grand strategic trend.

Sun Zhengyi said that the future era must be the era of artificial intelligence. What investors need to do is very simple, that is, invest in the future and investment trends. Investment trends are more important than investment companies.

We didn't do anything wrong, but somehow we lost.

When time abandons you, they won't even say goodbye. Like Kodak, like Nokia.

Peter drucker once said: "The biggest danger in turbulent times is not the turmoil itself, but still doing things with the logic of the past.

Therefore, the success brought by the general trend and the tuyere is always unreliable. What managers can do is to always fear the general trend.

land

Sun Tzu said, "He who gets the terrain will get the help of soldiers."

The choice of battlefield is the core of command art. The principle of winning a war is to fight only on the battlefield where one's own advantages can be fully exerted, and at the same time force the opponent to fight on the battlefield where one's own advantages cannot be exerted.

A good commander must have a clear sense of terrain, and a good manager must also have a keen sense of the market. This is the premise for enterprises to take effective market actions and win.

The four dimensions of terrain analysis are: near and far, easy and dangerous, wide and narrow, life and death;

-Distance refers to the distance of the combat area.

The combat effectiveness of the army will decrease geometrically with the extension of combat distance, and the risk will increase geometrically with the extension of combat distance;

A good enterprise must have a very clear understanding of the boundaries between market and organizational expansion, and always maintain strong self-control in the face of the temptation of opportunities and expansion.

-Easy, easy, flat.

The key point of danger is to control the surface with points. Hu Linyi, the second person of Xiang Army, once said: "Although the limbs are big, there are only a few acupuncture points; Although the territory is wide, we will strive for several places. "

-Width and narrowness mean market capacity.

When an enterprise faces an opponent with much larger scale and more resources than you; You can choose a relatively narrow market segment and business, and choose a battlefield where the opponent's scale and resource advantages cannot be exerted;

-Life and death refer to the market.

For enterprises, death is a market full of risks and traps. Once it enters, it is likely to lose all its money, or those narrow, slow-growing markets with extremely obvious ceiling effect. The birthplace is those markets with excellent profit margin, growth potential and space, which can achieve exponential expansion.

will

Sun Tzu said, "General is wise, trustworthy, benevolent, brave and strict." This is the "five virtues" emphasized by Sun Tzu.

A thousand troops are easy to get, but generals are hard to find. "General" is the most important and active variable in war confrontation. An excellent general is the most important asset of an army. The same is true for enterprises, which need to cherish the cultivation of talents.

Among the five virtues, "wisdom" and "courage" should be viewed together, while "benevolence" and "strictness" should be viewed together.

Clausewitz said that a good general in war must have two qualities:

One is the intelligence that can still emit inner light to illuminate the truth in this boundless darkness;

The second is the courage to follow this glimmer of light.

China's contemporary military entrepreneurs, whether Wang Jianlin, Ren or Liu Chuanzhi, probably have the greatest trait of making war decisions.

Yan Wei. "Strict" means strict discipline. The army is going to fight. Without discipline, the army is a rabble, and it is impossible to have combat effectiveness.

Therefore, in addition to "loving soldiers like children", there is also a saying in the army that "people who are too soft-hearted can't lead a good team."

Finally, "letter" is not important. "Faith" is very important, so Sun Tzu put "faith" in the second place of "five virtues". It is imperative to "believe in rewards and punishments" because of high trust.

You may have seen Li Yunlong in the American blockbuster Saving Private Ryan or Bright Sword. Why pay so much life to find someone?

This is the characteristic of the army. It tells every member of the organization in this way that you can trust your organization under any circumstances.

If you win, raise your glass and make contributions; if you lose, you will try your best to save you.

About the "five virtues", there is also a wonderful exposition about the "five virtues" in the Eleven Records of Sun Tzu's Art of War:

"You can't expect the enemy to respond. You can't train people by faith. You can't attach all people to you. You can't fight with courage. You can't be strong and powerful. These five talents will be used in the body. "

law

Sun Tzu said, "Dharma ambassador, music system, official road, main use."

Law is what we call organizational structure, personnel system, logistics finance and systematic management ability.

Coincidentally, Wei Wuhou once asked Wu Qi: "Why do soldiers win?" What did the army win?

Wu Qi replied: "The ruler wins." Through organization and management,

Wu Hou asked, "Aren't you widowed?" Isn't it a matter of strength?

Wu Qi replied: "The law is unclear, rewards and punishments are unbelievable, and there are many gold. Although there are millions, what's the use?" If the law is not strict and rewards and punishments are not honored, but the general's soldiers do not stop and attack, even if there are millions of people, what's the use?

A very interesting phenomenon in management science is that novices focus on fighting, while veterans focus on organization.

Summary of five things

I call it the first strategic management model in human history.

What is Tao? -The vision of the enterprise.

What is "heaven"? -The general trend of enterprises.

What is "land"? -The industry and market in which the enterprise is located

What is "meeting"? -Entrepreneurs and core management teams.

What is "law"? -enterprise rules and procedures, that is, enterprise organization and management.

Are these not the core elements of strategic management?

The "five things" put forward by Sun Tzu more than 2,500 years ago are highly consistent with the "5W 1H" in modern management science.

Therefore, enterprises in contemporary China must go through the transformation from taking opportunity as the core to taking organization as the core, and then to taking values as the core management concept. A good enterprise must be a combination of factors such as the promotion of the times, outstanding leadership, organizational progress and the victory of values.