Sun Tzu and his The Art of WAR
The Art of War, although often
studied within the business world, is frequently misunderstood
and incorrectly applied by those not versed in the language of war.
I have read two different translations of Sun Tzu’s The Art of
War. It is a fascinating treatise of
what is required to win when losing is not an option. As a military
man, I have studied it not just for its lessons of the battlefield,
but for its gems of wisdom on leadership and the true cost of war. I
didn’t stop there, however. General George S. Patton’s writings have
(after reading Sun Tzu) some amazing similarities.
I don’t know if Patton was a disciple of Sun Tzu or if he arrived at
some of the same conclusions but nonetheless here are examples:
Sun Tzu: Now, when your weapons are dulled, your ardor damped, your strength exhausted and your treasure spent, other chieftains will spring up to take advantage of your extremity. Then no man, however wise, will be able to avert the consequences that must ensue. Thus, though we have heard of stupid haste in war, cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays.
Patton: A good solution applied with vigor now is better than a perfect solution applied ten minutes later.
Sun Tzu: Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances.
Patton: Good tactics can save even the worst strategy. Bad tactics will destroy even the best strategy.
There are many similarities in the philosophies of each, and while Sun Tzu primarily wrote of battlefield tactics, he also has some to say about leadership and discipline, moving men, and accomplishing goals.
Patton’s writings incorporate much of Sun Tzu, but diverge a bit from the minutia of battlefield tactics from the pithy "Go forward!" to the sublime "It’s the unconquerable soul of man and not the nature of the weapon he uses, that ensures victory."
The modern William Edwards Demming and Walter A. Shewhart took these tenants and expanded upon then further, creating their revolution in quality control during WWII and beyond. "Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service." "Cease dependence on mass inspection to achieve quality." "Drive out fear."
Then came another student, by the name of Jack Welch, CEO of GE. Almost, a modern day Patton in the boardroom, he transformed the culture of GE from bloated, bureaucratic, and slow moving to an empowering, nimble entity where every employee was an agent for change with responsibilities and authority.
If Sun Tzu could be summed up into one word it would be "deception."
Patton would be "action."
Demming is "purpose."
Welch is "transformation."
Each of these great leaders and tacticians built upon the last, grew, learned, adapted, bettered. They used the tools they had at hand to accomplish the mission. I would hope that humanity has learned something in over 2000 years, but all too often, today’s upwardly mobile disciples of Sun Tzu’s great meta-tactics of conquest and destruction apply his teaching of deception to the widest possible swath. The Art of War is a square peg in a round hole. The Art of War does not lead to victory in the corporate world, and I will tell you why.
You can see Sun Tzu at work all around in today’s society. Business is war. Co-workers quietly focus their ambitions on upward mobility, concealing their movements within the company as they maneuver their way into an advantageous position. Whether intentional or not, much of reality TV draws on Sun Tzu’s teachings of misdirection and deception. If you are weak, appear strong. If you are strong appear weak. More or less if you are on an episode of survivor, and you are strong, that is, if you have the advantage, hide it. Keep it secret. Do not let your enemy know you have such power. If you are weak, you must be careful not to let your enemy know. You must study your enemy and trick him into error. Get him reacting to you instead of seizing the advantage you know he has.
This works on reality TV. It is always the most deceptive person, the one who disguises his true intentions until the last possible instant. This is the person that convinces his adversaries up is down, black is white, and advantage is disadvantage. This is the person that wins, not the most likable, not the smartest, not the strongest. The person that wins is generally not the one with the obvious assets. In fact, it could be the fat weird abrasive gay guy. The winner is the one that most convincingly hides his true face, obfuscates his inner strategy, and conceals his movements with rigorous discipline.
Deception is fine, when the goal is victory in an adversarial arena. That is, there is really nothing collaborative about reality TV. Sure, the producers will give the group some common task in which they need to cooperate, but it’s really just for the fun of the viewer. Make no bones about it, these shows are war, everybody looking for advantage at every possible moment. Reality it is not, at least no reality in which I would want to live.
The real shame is that we see that Sun Tzu thrives in this arena, and we attempt to apply it to the world in which we live and breath. We say to our young children, "What you see on TV is only make believe." And "Don’t try this at home." As adults we should know that Coyote could never operate as he does and expect to succeed.
Yet we fail to see that Sun Tzu is ill-suited to the real world, in fact, as Gen Patton found out, not wanted either. Within the confines of business and society, we actually hurt society by focusing on "winning at all costs," deceiving our co-workers while we maneuver for position in the corporate structure, furthering our personal ambitions to the exclusion of others or the wellness of the company (think Enron, Worldcom).
They say, "Well, that’s the real world, folks. If you can’t handle it stay at home, and leave business to the big boys, " and they will puff themselves up like a little male lizard flaring its neck up for an appearance of formability. You play warrior, but warrior you are not. You would treat your fellows as adversaries, pretended foes upon whom to project your energies. You deceive, because you seek your prize. You seek your victory. You seek your fortune, like a great warrior predator strutting upon the grassy safari, beholden to no one, dependent upon no one, answering to no one.
Now, pardon me if I burst your bubble, but that is NOT "the real world." The little lizard world, I described is a world divorced of humanity, the savage world of the animal kingdom, the horrendous world of war and violence. Human beings have evolved to be cooperative creatures. We didn’t get speed. We didn’t get strength. We didn’t get size, or a short gestation period, or quick maturation, or flight, or or or. We got shafted in every possible way according to the laws of nature as we see them, as Sun Tzu saw them. We need each other for even the most basic of necessities.
We did get one thing, though, that sets us apart, on the top, at the crest of the wave of life, the pinnacle. We got love. Love calls us to others’ needs, love inspires us to help rather than hurt. Love is compassion, empathy. Love is what takes away personal fear and allows us to trust, allows us to work together for a common goal.
Reality TV is an perversion of our natural social order, an order where we should collaborate rather than compete, an order where our goals are mutual rather than individual. Love is not to be about individual satisfaction, gratification, or needs. It is not about you, just as people are not just put here on earth for you. The sooner you realize that Sun Tzu was the master of being successful in an aberrated world, the master of hell, guru of a perverted state, the less you will attempt to apply his principles to this world of creation and potential.
For if it is in this pit of fire where you reach your potential, where you find success, then it will spread, it will consume those not strong enough to resist its flames. If you become master of the flames, you damn humanity, your children, your fellows to the same torment. The weak shall be consumed, and you will say to them, "you were not strong enough." A thousand souls will lay scattered upon the landscape in various states of starvation and despair. A few tens will survive, wild-eyed fearless, standing defiant amidst the flames. To survive in this world they have had to give up their humanity, leave their compassion behind, to stand finally alone with nary a soul to raise a cup of water to their burning lips. In the end, they shall finish their days alone, kept from the banquet to writhe in the street wailing and gnashing their teeth.