Among the classic books written by strategists one of the oldest ones is still read worldwide by variety of people; business managers, army commanders, top politicians, sports managers, etc., are all using the Sun Tzu’s book “The Art of War” that was written in 500 B.C. on bamboo strips as strategic principles of wars.
Some of Sun Tzu’s principles are crucial for business and strategic planning that in my opinion should be hanged on the wall of any CEO’s office. The art of war’s magic have been highly appreciated by those who used it and those who neglected it sometimes paid a high price. In this post I have chosen some of the Sun Tzu’s principles from which a business manager can benefit.
Sun Tzu says:
If you know your enemy and know yourself, in 100 battles you will never be in peril. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory you gain you will suffer a defeat. If you know neither your enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.
Sun Tzu considers panoramic view as one of his fundamental strategies. Knowledge about yourself and the enemy is the key goal that can be achieved only by having a panoramic view. Knowledge about yourself can be collected during a panoramic view. For instance, through a survey about the company’s services or products you can collect useful information about yourself. Customers’ feedback is one of the most popular types of information about you that helps the company have a better understanding of where the company is at the moment and what its shortages are. Knowing the capability of your company, your core competencies, your value proposition, and analyzing the company via different tools (e.g. business intelligence software) will give a better view of knowing yourself. The nine blocks of business model generation is also a good framework for collecting such intelligence about your company. The tricky part however is the base of the panoramic view: you need to have an objective view from the top and not a subjective view and biased information of yourself. This is the key feature of a panoramic view which is different from the view of a manager or company’s personnel. Most people might think that they know their companies well and some managers and entrepreneurs see the sign of success soon, but things are not always as they look like. As Sun Tzu says:
“To lift an autumn hair is no sign of great strength; to see the sun and the moon is no sign of sharp sight; to hear the noise of thunder is no sign of a quick ear.”
The lack of panoramic view will lead the manager to a misjudgment about him/herself and consequently creates an opportunity trap. Early success of the companies sometimes put the entrepreneur into such situation. This is more crucial for the early stage companies and startups not to get trapped by knowing themselves not well. A loss-making company might be happy of the sales increase while its operation is so inefficient that the sales increase is not what the company really needs. When you know yourself well then there is another player about which the intelligence should be collected: the enemy.
Most people might consider the enemy to be only the competitor; nonetheless, Sun Tzu’s enemy can be translated into customers, investors, contractors, suppliers, and other stakeholders that the company should deal with. The success relies on a panoramic view that includes all aspects, directions, and information needed about your business network and its players. Gather the data about you and your enemy, convert them to information, and more importantly convert the information to a knowledge that can be one of your key success factors.
Sun Tzu also says:
The Victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.
Some managers are so overwhelmed with their daily schedules that they dismiss their panoramic view and such negligence can lead the company to a future dilemma. Having a good plan and planning strategically as Sun Tzu mentions is the key to every victory. Winner entrepreneurs won their game in their plan. The winner manager plans accurately and sticks to the plan until he/she achieves the goal. Thousands of years ago, Sun Tzu predicted successes and failures that we see nowadays in business world…