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The Journey Begins: Laying
Plans
Ronald O. Neely
Sun Tzu writes:
The art of war is of vital importance to the
State. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to
safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no
account be neglected.
The art of war, then, is governed by five constant
factors, to be taken into account. These are: (1) The Moral Law;
(2) Heaven; (3) Earth; (4) The Commander; (5) Method and
discipline.
The Moral Law causes the people to be in complete
accord with their ruler, so that they will follow him regardless of
their lives, undismayed by any danger. Heaven signifies night
and day, cold and heat, times and seasons. Earth comprises
distances, great and small; danger and security; open ground and
narrow passes; the chances of life and death. The Commander
stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerity, benevolence, courage and
strictness. By method and discipline are to be understood the
marshaling of the army in its proper subdivisions, the graduations of
rank among the officers, the maintenance of roads by which supplies
may reach the army, and the control of military expenditure.
These five heads should be familiar to every
general: he who knows them will be victorious; he who knows them not
will fail. Therefore, in your deliberations, when seeking to
determine the military conditions, let them be made the basis of a
comparison, in this wise:
(1) Which of the two sovereigns is imbued with the Moral
law?
(2) Which of the two generals has most ability?
(3) With whom lie the advantages derived from Heaven and
Earth?
(4) On which side is discipline most rigorously
enforced?
(5) Which army is stronger?
(6) On which side are officers and men more highly
trained?
(7) In which army is there the greater constancy both in
reward and punishment?
Now the general who wins a battle makes many
calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The
general who loses a battle makes but few calculations beforehand.
Thus do many calculations lead to victory and few calculations to
defeat. It is by attention to this point that I can foresee who
is likely to win or lose.
On Leadership: The Application
Sun Tzu emphasizes the importance of the art of
war. The key word in the title is
"Art." The focus is not on the war itself, but on how
the war is waged. By definition, art is a deliberate attempt to
influence emotion and intellect. Therefore, leadership is not
just a skill. When done correctly, it is also an art. In
comparison to the military, a general cannot manage his troops into
battle. It is only if he leads them into harm's
way that they will willingly follow. The same philosophy holds
true in any organization. It is simply not enough for the boss
to be a good manager or subject matter expert. He or she must
be a leader if the organization is to succeed. He or she must
be able to inspire!
Moreover, just as a general cannot underestimate his importance to
the successful outcome of a war, a business leader should not
underestimate his or her significance in regards to the success of
the organization.
Sun Tzu suggests benchmarking your army against the
enemy based on five constant factors. Whether competing
directly with other organizations in the market, or simply wanting to
improve your organization by helping your employees become more efficient
and effective, it is important for all leaders to understand how
their organization compares to the best in the business. Five
factors for leaders to focus on today are:
(1) The organization, including vision, mission, goals
and strategies.
(2) Organizational environment, including stakeholders
and competition.
(3) Work environment, including resources, tools and
human resource policies.
(4) Work, including workflow, procedures,
responsibilities and ergonomics.
(5) Workers, including knowledge, skill, motivation,
expectations and capacity.
Finally, in this chapter, Sun Tzu explains that the
successful leader fully understands the actual situation prior to
deciding on a plan of action, and that acting before fully
comprehending the current state of affairs is a recipe for
failure. The objective of analyzing the five factors mentioned
above is twofold. First, leaders must fully understand the
difference between what is and what could be. Second, leaders
need to identify what possible factors are causing the gap between
those two conditions.
What is happening in the organization right now,
and how much better could it be if the proper changes were put in
place? In short, what is the performance gap? The
effective leader has a vision of how he or she can improve the
organization and the lives of the people in it.
What factors are causing the organization to operate in
a less than optimal mode? In general terms, the causes of most
performance gaps can be classified into one of two areas: the
lack of environmental support or the lack of repertory of
behavior. We depend on our environment for data, feedback,
resources, consequences and incentives. Furthermore, if
employees are not as effective or efficient as they could be, the
cause might be a lack of required skills or knowledge, a lack of
individual capacity, or a lack of motivation.
Stay tuned over the coming weeks and look for other
articles from The
Art of War. To ensure you don't miss the valuable
tips I'll share with you through these emails, please add frontoffice@humancapitaldevelopers.com and RonaldNeely@humancapitaldevelopers.com to your safe
sender list. Next time we'll explore Chapter 2--Waging War.
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