Sun Tzu's Concepts on Winning a War

 
Sun Tzu was a Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher who lived about 544-496 BC. He is believed to be the author of the ancient treatise, the Art of War. Compiled in a book, it is widely read in both Asian and Western countries. Basing on Sun Tzu’s the Art of War, I have selected some of his significant concepts on winning a war or a battle that incidentally jibes with conventional tactics used by the military and law enforcers. These concepts are also useful in formulating strategies in sports, business, political and other civilian activities.      

Deceiving the Enemy in War  

                                                                                                                                                          The reality of war is that deceiving the enemy is one of the means to defeat him. Military plans should be kept secret and should be accessible only to those who need to know it. A military operation in order to be successful must have the elements of secrecy and surprise. In that connection, the enemy should not have a hint of what the army is up to. If need be ruses should be employed to divert his attention. The best time to attack the enemy is when he is most vulnerable and when he least expects it.

Employment of a Superior Force than the Enemy’s

Sun Tzu stressed the importance of having a superior number of troops than that of the enemy’s in order to surround and overcome him. If the army is equal to the enemy, an attack will be launched if the army is able. If the enemy is stronger, it is better to avoid him.  The combat skill of the soldiers must be also taken into consideration relative to that of the enemy’s. The army can deal with a larger enemy force by dividing him. It can cause the large enemy to stretch his force into smaller units. These smaller units can then be engaged by larger army units thereby inflicting on the enemy piecemeal defeats.

Civil Leadership should Leave Military Operations to the Military

In most countries, the civilian leadership is supreme over the military. The civil leadership has the power to declare war and to give order to the military to prosecute it. The civil leadership however must give the military the freedom of action to accomplish its mission. Civilian leadership must if at all possible refrain from interfering in the internal operational matters of the military because it is the soldiers who are the ones knowledgeable on the real situation on the ground and how to deal with it.

Knowing the Enemy

Knowing the enemy is mostly related to intelligence activities. Intelligence is a vital and inseparable part of military operations. All successful military operations are products of effective intelligence gathering. Knowledge of the enemy is very important in order to assess his capabilities, his strength, his belief system and the support and sympathy of the civilian populace on him. A military operation conducted without adequate intelligence information has the potential to have a disastrous result.

Leadership and morale

The soldiers are the most important and valuable resources of the army. The state of their morale can have a big impact on the success or failure of the mission. Officers should be effective leaders. They should strike a balance between looking after the welfare of their men and imposing discipline on them if necessary. An overly lenient officer can bring about laxity and indiscipline in the ranks. On the other hand, an overly strict officer can make his men rebellious. Effective officer is one who is feared, liked and respected by his men. He is also one who can bring order and efficiency in the organization, and his men look up to him as someone who is sincerely concerned of their well being.

Eleven Qualities of Effective Leadership

Any organization or group needs a person to guide its members to achieve their common goals. The leader is given the authority to make decisions or take actions in the organization’s behalf. Material and human resources of the organization are also made available at his disposal and use in order for him to accomplish his mission. The leader is the most important person in the organization because its affairs revolve around him. He is the embodiment of the organization that he represents, and he is held primarily responsible for its performance.    

In their adult life most persons exercise leadership in one way or another as they go about their livelihood activities. A person who establishes a business has some employees to exercise leadership on.  Military officers and public or private individuals by virtue of their educational attainment and positions have also to exercise leadership to get their jobs done. There are people who because of their personality are natural leaders. But other people can learn the art of leadership through formal education and application of its principles while on the job.     

People who exercise leadership have different degree of effectiveness. Some leaders are good. Others can be rated as passable while still others are ineffective. With my observation of different people such as military officers, businessmen and even professionals, I have noticed some common qualities that have made them effective leaders who made valuable contributions to the success of their organization.                                                                                                                                                        

Those effective leaders are: 

1.       Honest. This characteristic is necessary not only for the leader but also for his followers. People gauge one’s character on his honesty. The leader’s lack of it means a loss of trust and confidence on him. He cannot work effectively once his credibility is lost.

2.       Knowledgeable.  Subordinates have a high regard for a leader whom they perceived as very knowledgeable in the field he is in. In addition he cannot effectively lead his men to do a job in which he has insufficient knowledge of. In this regard, a leader should always strive to improve himself.  He should continuously update and increase his knowledge through formal and self education.  

3.       Positive thinking. All successful leaders are positive thinkers. Positivity of a leader also creates an atmosphere of high spirit in the organization.

4.       Proactive. A leader should make thing happens for the good of the organization and to accomplish its goals. He should also take measures to preclude the happening of unfavorable situation or to mitigate its effects if it ever comes at all.

5.       A team person. A leader should make an effort to make his men a cohesive group that can work together as one. He should not allow mutual animosity between them to stand in the way in the accomplishment of tasks. He should foster a spirit of camaraderie and cooperation in the group so that team work could be achieved.

6.       Devoted to the well being of his men. Human resources are the leader’s greatest asset.  People unlike machines have emotions and feelings.  Too lenient dealing with them may create an impression that the leader is soft.  Strict handling of them may make subordinates resentful and even rebellious. A leader can be authoritarian or democratic when situation demands it or he may adapt a leadership style that is effective to him because it suits his personality. The well being of the men should be one of the leader’s utmost concerns to keep their morale high. Motivated employees are responsive to the leader’s desire to accomplish his mission.

7.       Energetic. A good leader is relentless pursuer of achievements. He is a man of action, and he is full of physical energy. However, he need not be the busiest man in the organization. He can carry out his task through his subordinates. The task that he is expected to do most in the organization is supervision.

8.       Taking full responsibility for his actions. In his organization, the buck stops at the leader. He is the one primarily responsible for what his organization has done or failed to do. He may delegate his authority to a subordinate but doing so will not relieve him of his responsibility as the leader of the organization.

9.       Taking calculated risks when opportunity presents itself. In a certain situation in business, military or other endeavors a leader should take daring steps to advance the interest of his business or organization when there is opportunity to do so. Failure to act means a lost opportunity. Failures are undesirable experience, but doing nothing will also result to nothing.

1     Establishing a network of good working relationship with other people or organization. Some leaders work in a large company so that his organization is under another bigger organization. In that case, a good leader has the ability to be always in the good graces of his superiors to make the accomplishment of his mission easier. If need be, he should also connect with people outside the organization if doing so will help him do his job better. His network of people whom he has working relationship with will make it easier for him to accomplish his missions.

1     Charismatic. There are people whose personality is like a magic so that people like them. Charisma is definitely a boost to one’s leadership ability. And a leader is lucky if he has it. Some people have less or lack that attribute. Fortunately, the art of effective leadership can be developed. Just being charismatic is not an assurance of successful leadership because other qualities of leadership are also equally or more important.   

Application of leadership principles has the same effect whether a leader is in a big or in a small organization, in the civilian or in the military establishments or in a non-profit or in a business organization.  Leaders who displayed those above mentioned qualities have proven to be successful in the accomplishment of their mission.

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