Never Fire a Shot and Win the War

“To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the supreme of excellence. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the supreme of excellence.” – Sun Tzu

When you hear the words crushing victory, what comes to mind? No mercy, no survivors - a zero sum game.  We have come to expect that in order to win, our enemy must be utterly defeated. Yet, we are quick to overlook the steep price of a crushing victory: causalities paid in blood, and treasuries depleted of gold. Are you really victorious when you are one of the few survivors on a battlefield, broken and exhausted? No, these are Pyrrhic victories, made infamous by King Pyrrhus’ futile battles against the Romans. Pyrrhus inflicted more casualties than the Romans, yet his severely weakened garrison and treasury could not match the Roman war machine's resources and continue fighting battles, thus making his “victories” meaningless.

In contrast, Sun Tzu’s rational approach to victory is one that would have been beneficial to many military Generals who won battles, but lost wars. Remove the faulty notion that victories require blood, sweat, and tears. Victory should be evaluated across two dimensions: 1) objectives achieved, and 2) costs incurred. Genghis Khan was a General who exemplified Sun Tzu’s philosophy, utilizing an intelligent combination of siege tactics and psychological warfare to conquer cities at minimal cost. He followed the path of least resistance, as many cities capitulated knowing the wrath they would incur under Khan, as his reputation preceded him. If a city resisted, he would utilize “cost effective” tactics, such as catapulting diseased corpses over enemy walls, infesting the city with plague and forcing a surrender. Even to Khan, a great and revered warrior, the last option was the sword.

In business, we should follow Sun Tzu’s philosophy: understand the rational path to victory to minimize costs and maximize returns. We must remove the faulty notion of seeking glory by crushing our enemy, whether it is a costly bidding war or expensive negative advertising campaign.

Glory is unquantifiable. Don’t fight for glory, fight for reason. Spare the casualties, whether it is soldiers on the battlefield or assets on the balance sheet. Win the war without ever firing a shot and you will have achieved the purest of victories.