Sun Tzu’s The Art of War Beyond the great fad

by Miroslav Šebek

May 2013

Most actual and most relevant to business strategy

From the ancient text on war strategy

Explained and glossed

The paragraphs

How to read this presentation:

Chapter&paragraph in The Art of War in Roman numerals

English text of the paragraph in translation of Lionel Giles (which is now English standard of The Art of The War)

Text from author of this presentation : glosses, historic examples, parallels to business strategy etc.

This is true essence of strategy for me that you never have resources satisfying all your needs, so you MUST make decisions on allocation of your resources, exploit your weaknesses as baits and your strenghts as jaw for your beast, and grab initiative !

VI.17 For should the enemy strengthen his van, he will weaken his rear; should he strengthen his rear, he will weaken his van; should he strengthen his left, he will weaken his right; should he strengthen his right, he will weaken his left. If he sends reinforcements everywhere, he will everywhere be weak.

Who will win ? Really 50:50 ?

• This is about the whole of the army! By contrast, leader MUST be ignorant about (1),(2) or (3) concerning a unit of the army if such regards endanger whole army!

• In 1917 British general Douglas Haig broke morale of his army by futile and senseless offensives in Paschendale battle.

• On opposite, in November of 1941 commander of Western front G.K.Zhukov categoricaly refused request of his subordinate general K.K.Rokossovsky for a minor retreat of his 16th army to better defendable position. The result was major damage inflicted on 16th army but morale of Western front remained undamaged; important few days before first Russian major offensive.

III.12 There are three ways in which a ruler can bring misfortune upon his army:—

III.13

(1) By commanding the army to advance or to retreat, being ignorant of the fact that it cannot obey. This is called hobbling the army.

III.14 (2) By attempting to govern an army in the same way as he administers a kingdom, being ignorant of the conditions which obtain in an army. This causes restlessness in the soldier’s minds.

III.15 (3) By employing the officers of his army without discrimination, through ignorance of the military principle of adaptation to circumstances. This shakes the confidence of the soldiers.

How many business leaders afraids battle with equally strong opponent ! They say instead ‘ I employ Blue ocean strategy – battles are not necessary for me ’. Really? I’ve read the famous book from Kim and Mauborgne and seen some presentations on the topic – and there was nothing about shrinking of company and decline in incomes. This is more typical for companies which have fled a market battle than for that ones which have developed uncontested marketspace...

III.9 If equally matched, we can offer battle; if slightly inferior in numbers, we can avoid the enemy; if quite unequal in every way, we can flee from him.

This is not about leaders skillful in fleeing battle without any fighting, with their forces intact and without losing a man! Sun Tzu should have highlight more that his rules are intended for average generals seeking mastery, not for zero level strategists in top positions seeking an alibi. Some people have really perverted these two articles from ‘The Art of the War’ into ‘Sun Tzu urged us avoid battle for any price’ !

III.6 Therefore the skillful leader subdues the enemy’s troops without any fighting; he captures their cities without laying siege to them; he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations in the field.

III.7

With his forces intact he will dispute the mastery of the Empire, and thus, without losing a man, his triumph will be complete. This is the method of attacking by stratagem.

• General may be strong and with authority but his orders still may be unclear...

• Job of a commander-in-chief is to convert Scarcity of resources, Uncertainty about future and Complexity of environment into Clear, Unambiguous and Attainable orders for his subordinates. There is no exception and no excuse for not doing so!

• If he tries to avoid the decision making, his subordinates become commanders-in-chief at their own – they have to deal with Scarcity, Uncertainty and Complexity in his stead. Very common situation in many western corporations!

X.18 When the general is weak and without authority; when his orders are not clear and distinct; when there are no fixed duties assigned to officers and men, and the ranks are formed in a slovenly haphazard manner, the result is utter disorganization.

I think it must be slightly reworded in order to see the point(s):

X.18 When the general is weak and without authority OR when his orders are not clear and distinct OR when there are no fixed duties assigned to officers and men, and the ranks are formed in a slovenly haphazard manner, the result is utter disorganization.

That’s why western companies seek decisive, dynamic, strong and persitent managers – they have to run from one attacked point to another through all wilds at will of their smart eastern adversaries.

Never attack directly what is dear to YOU – it’s predictable and you’ll crash into well prepared defence (like Wehrmacht in Kursk battle). Instead lure opponent’s forces away to defend objectives which are dear to HIM/HER and subsequently reap your unprotected objective.

VI.5 Appear at points which the enemy must hasten to defend; march swiftly to places where you are not expected.

XI.18

If asked how to cope with a great host of the enemy in orderly array and on the point of marching to the attack, I should say: “Begin by seizing something which your opponent holds dear; then he will be amenable to your will.”

XI.66 Forestall your opponent by seizing what he holds dear, and subtly contrive to time his arrival on the ground.

• It looks very naturally that some potential objectives must be ignored, but really isn’t. E.g. medieval obsession with fortresses is still alive in many military brains. In a similar way, business minds are frequenly obsessed with diversification, no matter that in their case it may be harmful. No custom, no fad, no tool, no great leader of the past can absolve a strategic leader from his/her basic duty – to assess current strategic situation !

• To disobey sovereign (or company owner) is definitely the utmost measure in relation between the sovereign and his/her commander-in-chief. However, in some extreme cases it must be introduced (e.g. panicked or insane sovereign).

• More frequently, appointed commander-in-chief doesn’t do decisions on resource allocation and factual strategic decisions are made by middle officers or managers facing impossible to fulfil tasks. They may be desperate enough to disobey inept commander-in-chief and sovereign too, usually in a very noisy way.

VIII.3 There are roads which must not be followed, armies which must be not attacked, towns which must not be besieged, positions which must not be contested, commands of the sovereign which must not be obeyed.

X.23

If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight, even though the ruler forbid it; if fighting will not result in victory, then you must not fight even at the ruler’s bidding.

Some commanders, some cultures and some nations are obsessed with idea of single all-out decisive head-to-head battle with main body of enemy army. On example, ancient Romans.

Here is well known story of consul Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus Cunctator from second Puny war (following text is copied from Wikipedia):

“Fabius was well aware of the military superiority of the Carthaginians, and so Fabius refused to meet Hannibal in a pitched battle. Instead he kept his troops close to Hannibal, hoping to exhaust him in a long war of attrition. Fabius was able to harass the Carthaginian foraging parties, limiting Hannibal's ability to wreak destruction while conserving his own military force. The delaying tactics involved a pincer of not directly engaging Hannibal while also exercising a "scorched earth" practice to prevent Hannibal's forces from obtaining grain and other resources.

The Romans were unimpressed with this defensive strategy and at first gave Fabius his epithet Cunctator (=Indecisive) as an insult. “

Ultimately, Romans sacked Fabius and appointed ‘decisive’ consuls Varro and Paullus who immediatelly led Roman legions towards long-desired decisive battle with Hannibal. The result of the battle was epic debacle near Cannae where Romans lost in one day more than 50000 soldiers including ‘decisive’ consul Paullus.

VI.30 So in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is weak.

Sun Tzu says : PLACE...! You, you have to place your army ...!

Sun Tzu doesn’t say: LET YOUR foe to place your army in desperate straits...!

That’s the difference, that’s the wit : even in straits, you have initiative. This is why Alexander defeated much more stronger Dareios in battle of Gaugamela, this is why Sun Tzu defeated stronger army of Chu kingdom, using himself as bait.

XI.24 Soldiers when in desperate straits lose the sense of fear. If there is no place of refuge, they will stand firm. If they are in hostile country, they will show a stubborn front. If there is no help for it, they will fight hard.

XI.58 Place your army in deadly peril, and it will survive; plunge it into desperate straits, and it will come off in safety.

True. Nothing to add. If somebody wants to carry out honest war, I wish him/her great success. The same to people who believe that business needs no battles.

I.18 All warfare is based on deception.

All my presentations on strategy and corporate culture

Personal planning of strategist http://www.slideshare.net/kerimek/personnal-planning-of-strategist

My glosses to famous Sun Tzu’s The Art of War http://www.slideshare.net/kerimek/the-art-of-war-glosses

Surprising roots of bad organizational culture http://www.slideshare.net/kerimek/roots-of-badculture

Surprising roots of bad organizational culture – shortened version

http://www.slideshare.net/kerimek/roots-of-bad-culture-shortened-version

Strategic management as group of human beings http://www.slideshare.net/kerimek/strategic-management-as-group-of-human-beings

Enlargement of a small power plant http://www.slideshare.net/kerimek/enlargement-of-a-small-power-plant-project-and-strategy

Thank you for your attention!

Looking forward to your feedback, you can use my e-mail

miroslav.sebek@seznam.cz

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