Sun Tzu's Life Lessons
? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?
????????? Sun-Tzu's paradigms concerning analyzing the correlation of forces and estimating the psychological makeup of an opponent's mind are as relevant today as they were five hundred years before the birth of Jesus. Indeed, as Henry Kissinger observed in his work?On China:?"Even today Sun Tzu's text reads with a degree of immediacy and insight that places him among the ranks of the world's foremost strategic thinkers."?His legendary insight derived from the Twelve Character Traits predicated on the Five Paradigms remains indispensable for achieving peace, dissuasion, and success in conflict and even in life.
??The Five Paradigms encompassing major perquisites for victory are:
1-??The Tao, the natural order of the Universe whose character one's human intuition must discern to realize the potential for individual wisdom;
2-? ?Heaven & Earth?advantages conferred from above as well as below;?
3-??The Prince's?wisdom, self-knowledge, and credibility;?
4-??Power and Obedience?implementation of commands and,?
5-??Administration?of the management of the modalities of power, including cohesiveness, training, loyalty of cadres, and the efficient administration of dependable bureaucratic structures for effectively applying force to subdue enemies, preferably without bloodshed.
?"There are no generals who have not heard of these five. Those who understand them will be victorious; those who do not understand them will not be victorious," concludes Sun-Tzu.??
? ? ??The Twelve Character Traits embedded in the Five Paradigms are:
?
1-SELF AWARENESS
????????? The ancient Greek injunction, 'Know Thyself,' is inscribed in the forecourt of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi in Cyprus. Knowing one's self is the pinnacle of human wisdom; to be ignorant of it is to be a victim of the whims of one's character and, consequently, the author of one's fate. Also, to know one's self is to have the ability to understand others, a vital mental acuity in one's journey in life.
Sun-Tzu says:?"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained, you will also suffer a defeat. You will succumb in every battle if you know neither the enemy nor yourself."
2- RATIONALITY
? ? ??To be like a sudden wind sweeping the dead leaves is a virtue in a transformative prince; to be like a tornado rolling the wheat and the chaff alike is folly.
?Sun-Tzu systematically underscores the importance of rationality and self-control and emphasizes the necessity to avoid conflict not supported by an in-depth evaluation of the correlation of forces [to use a favorite Soviet concept]. The wise prince calculates alternative solutions and chooses the optimum combination of all elements of power to prevail, preferably without blood and treasure.??
Sun-Tzu also warns:?"If he [the leader] is?reckless, his men can be killed. If he is?cowardly, his army can be captured. If he is?short-tempered, he will react in anger. If he is?self-important, he can be deceived. If he is?attached to his men, he will hesitate at a crucial moment. These five flaws are unfortunate for a general because they cause great destruction in war. These five flaws cause generals to fail and armies to die. Consider them well."
3- CONTROLLING AND CHANNELING THE BURNING NEED FOR FAME AND FORTUNE
? ? ? ?To seek fame and fortune is a vanity project, but a general adorned with the wisdom and serenity of the ages will have fame, and fortune will seek him.?
Sun Tzu maintains: "The general who advances without coveting fame and retreats without fearing disgrace, whose only thought is to protect his country and do good service for his sovereign, is the jewel of the kingdom.?
"What the ancients called a clever fighter is one who not only wins but excels in winning with ease. Hence, his victories bring him neither a reputation for wisdom nor credit for courage. Hence, to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting."
4- THE CONQUEST OF THE IMPULSIVE GRATIFICATION OF SPLEEN
? ? ??To be the target of the slings and arrows of hostility is an occupational hazard for princes, but to succumb to the irresistible sweetness of anger is folly.
Sun-Tzu makes this point abundantly clear when he writes:?
"Haste, fear of being labeled a coward, and personal emotions such as anger and hatred should never be permitted to influence priorities in decision-making.
?"No ruler should put troops into the field merely to gratify his spleen; no general should fight a battle simply out of anger.
?"Anger can turn to pleasure; spite can turn to joy. But a nation destroyed cannot be put back together again; a dead man cannot be brought back to life.
"So the enlightened ruler is prudent; the effective general is cautious. This is how to keep a nation at peace and an army intact."
?5- MANAGING THE IMPERATIVE OF WINNING ALL THE TIME
? ? ?To be aware of the limitations of strengths and amplitude of weaknesses ['yin'?and?'yang'] is primordial; to be oblivious to weaknesses and exaggerate strengths is a recipe for defeat.?
?Sun-Tzu's Table of Leadership Strengths includes wisdom, knowledge, credibility, strictness, benevolence, courage, analytical skills, and lack of concern with fame. In the world view of the sage, tranquil demeanor, and self-discipline are paramount virtues in a prince. He who thinks erratically on the spur of the moment might win battles if fortune smiles on him but assuredly would lose the war.
?According to Sun-Tzu, the weak leader is unenlightened, inconsistent, unable to fathom the enemy, obsessed with winning at all times, easily angered, hasty to act, arrogant, and a poor commander. An enlightened prince will deliberately exploit such flaws in an enemy commander.
Sun-Tzu posits:" The general is the supporting pillar of the state. If his talents are all-encompassing, the state will invariably be strong. If fissures mark the pillar, the state will always grow weak. The consummate leader cultivates the moral law and strictly adheres to method and discipline; thus, it is in his power to control success."
6- SUBTLETY?
? ? ??To be subtle is to present many faces to an opponent. Which face is true and which is false confuses an enemy and makes him hesitant and uncertain. He will think the true face is false and the false one is true.
?Sun Tzu places great importance on silence and deprecates loquaciousness in princes. He firmly believes that subtlety is a divine art through which we learn to be invisible and inaudible, thus observing the follies of a foe and holding his fate in our hands.??
Sun-Tzu comments: "It is the business of a general to be consistent, quiet and thus ensure secrecy; upright and just, and thus maintain order." He also stated: "Be extremely subtle, even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious, even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby, you can be the director of the opponent's fate."
7- THE ART OF THE OBLIQUE APPROACH?
??To be blunt, at times, is necessary, but the indirect approach is more important. No general understood the vital importance of the oblique order than Frederic the Great. The tactic as well as strategy involves bringing together a superior concentration or overwhelming force against a specific sector of the enemy’s position, usually the flank. According to Vince Hawkins writing in Warfare History Network:”Although attacking an enemy’s flank is as old a tactic as warfare itself, Frederick developed two new and distinctive means of doing so. Before Frederick, armies would engage in a flank attack using only a part of their field force. Frederick’s concept was to use his entire force, essentially shifting his entire “axis of attack” to a different position from which it started.”
Sun Tzu declares:?"In all fighting, the direct method may be used for joining battle, but indirect methods will be needed to secure victory. In battle, there are not more than two methods of attack – the direct and the indirect; yet these two, in combination, give rise to an endless series of manoeuvres. The direct and the indirect lead onto each other in turn. It is like moving in a circle – you never come to an end. Who can exhaust the possibilities of their combination?"
?
?8- GENERATING COHESIVENESS?
? ? ??To be in command is essential, but a power that generates cohesiveness is the essence of the art of leadership; an order that engenders disunity is certain to lose both the battle and the war before the struggle begins.
?If a Prince cannot maintain the unity of his ruling cadre, he will not secure the cohesiveness of the polity.?
Sun-Tzu argues: "If there is a disturbance in the camp, the general's authority is weak. If the banners and flags are shifted about, sedition is afoot. If the officers are angry, the men are weary."
He might have added, "If the men are weary, divided, and openly fighting among themselves, the distant thunder of approaching defeat can't be heard."
?9- KNOWING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FLEXIBILITY AND INTRANSIGENCE
? ? ?Being assertive is a virtue; inflexible when circumstances warrant malleability is a vice.
Aesop teaches us that while in a gale, a tree might fall; a weed can bend and survive. But the astute prince knows when to be strong like an oak tree and when to be flexible like a reed. To be consistent like an oak when circumstances demand flexibility and fickle like a reed when conditions warrant steadfastness is not a winning combination.?
Sun-Tzu observes: 'One who can change and transform in accord with the enemy and wrest victory is termed spiritual."?
?10- MASTERING THE SPIRIT OF COMMAND
? ? ??To have a vision is indispensable, but failing to forge "a clearly defined organization in control of thoroughly disciplined, well-ordered troops"?to implement the vision is like an ivory comb for a bald head.
Sun-Tzu sees the concept of force management not merely in terms of communication, control, and commands [the three Cs] but views it as 'spirit,' known as ch'i: the essential life energy. Accordingly, if the spirit behind the exercise of power is not focused and easily distracted, dissipated, directionally challenged, and continuously menaced by 'rumors and omens,' calamity will inevitably result.
11- EXPLORING THE ATTRACTION OF OPPOSITES: ORTHODOXY AND HETERODOX
? ? ??To combine the orthodox and the heterodox as the circumstances warrant is a divine princely gift; to remain consistently orthodox or unorthodox, irrespective of changing conditions, is a blunder of the first order.
Lao-Tzu's insight into the vital importance of governing the state with the orthodox ['cheng'] while harnessing the heterodox ['ch'i'] to employ force shows that the state function [decorum and diplomacy] should not be confused with the power function [continuation of politics by other means]. To combine the two is divine [the attraction of opposites]. To remain faithful to the orthodox while ignoring the heterodox or vice versa is to fail to understand the intricacies and complexities of wielding power.
Sun-Tzu's conclusion on the subject?outlines this formula for success: "The unorthodox [heterodox] and orthodox mutually produce each other, just like an endless cycle. Who can exhaust them?"
?12- KNOWING WHEN POOR NEGOTIATING SKILLS LEAD TO FAILURE
?? ? ??To know how to get out of a hole is an essential skill for survival, but not to fall into it in the first place is the ultimate skill for success.?
Solving large, complicated problems may earn you a reputation for skillful negotiation. Still, Sun Tzu asserts that this supposed achievement is actually a form of failure. Possessing true wisdom means preventing difficult problems from arising in the first place.?
Sun Tzu declares: "A general must see and know alone, meaning that he should be able to see and understand what others cannot. Seeing what others do not see is called brilliance; knowing what others do not know is called genius. Brilliant geniuses win first, meaning that they defend in such a way as to be unassailable and attack in such a way as to be irresistible.
13- THE USE AND MISUSE OF OPTIMISM
?? ? ??To be optimistic when in reality the forces of Heaven and Earth are aligned favorably is one thing; to imagine that they are when they are not is self-delusion. The lies we tell ourselves are surely the deadliest, as we believe in them with the might of our souls.
Sub-Tzu warns:?"Be careful what you water your dreams with."?Water them with your eyes and mind focused on the prize, and you may succeed; water them with the dew of your desires irrespective of the objective circumstances, and you will most assuredly fail. If you dream and hope that the Universe will respond, you will be disappointed; if you sharpen your reasoning process, study the matter, and know how to respond flexibly to threats and opportunities, you will know when to be optimistic or cautious.
14- PERSISTENCE
Those who have reached summits in life without displaying consistent persistence are rare in life.
Sun Tzu advises:?"If the mind is willing, the flesh could go on and on without many things."
15- IMAGINATION
"Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world," concluded Einstein. From Ctesibius' first automated device in ancient Greece to Leonardo, from Descartes to the internet, no transformative discovery saw the light of day without imagination.??
?Sun-Tzu observes:?"There are only five notes on a scale, yet combining them gives more melodies than can ever be heard. There are only five primary colors, yet combining those gives greater variation than can ever be seen. There are only five cardinal tastes, yet combining them forms more flavors than can ever be tasted.”
Momentum in engaging with stakeholders arises only from the expected and the surprising, yet combining them form more ways than can ever be known.
?Each brings on the other, like an infinite cycle.
Who can exhaust all possibilities?"
If you bear these cardinal principles in EVERYTHING you do in life, in war, in peace, in love, in business, and in thinking about your future, you will be well served.