- It's the best-selling book on Amazon.
It's used in the military academies,
for professional sports teams
and it's a favorite of global leaders, generals,
coaches, lawyers and CEOs, who consider it as the holy grail
of business strategy.
And it's two thousand and five hundred years old.
"Know yourself.
"Know your enemy.
"And in 100 battles you will never be in peril."
Sun Tzu was a brilliant Chinese philosopher and strategist.
His book, The Art of War
continues to sell millions of copies.
Sun Tzu taught that planning,
preparation, knowledge and information are keys to success.
So generals should be relentless
in taking into account anything and everything
that could possibly affect the outcome of a battle.
That includes the environment, the weather, troop morale,
and of course, the enemy.
But success isn't just about knowing your opponent.
For Sun Tzu, it's as important to know yourself.
As he said, "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.
"If you know neither the enemy nor yourself,
"you will succumb in every battle."
That means that the battle is won in the mind,
long before it's won in the field.
Whenever possible,
Sun Tzu preferred to win without fighting.
Or at the very least, to win the easiest battles.
In war, he wrote,
"the victorious strategists only seek battles
"after the victory has been won."
So What Does that Mean?
The lesson of Sun Tzu apply far beyond the battlefield.
The "enemy" can be looked at as our bad habits,
essentially what is not working for us.
We often "attack" our bad habits by force,
but this uses a lot of energy and can be exhausting,
unsustainable and compromise our health.
Sun Tzu advised his troops
to "avoid what is strong and strike at what is weak."
So in our own lives,
we can make micro-steps and win some small battles first.
This will build our confidence.
Instead of depleting our energy, it's energizing.
And, in the process,
we establish a stronger position
from which to attack the most difficult challenges.
That means we must be rested,
fit and emotionally balanced so we can be lucid
in our thinking and timing.
Sun Tzu advised generals to remain calm
and clear-minded during the chaos,
since panic and fuzzy thinking
can make the difference between winning and losing.
Any conflict or change also creates opportunity.
If we keep a level head and make informed,
rational decisions not based on emotion,
we can achieve victory.
Finding the best outcome means paying attention
to what's happening around you,
seeing opportunities that arise,
noticing gaps that exist,
so you can seize the moment to act when the time is right.
But we must know what is most important to us.
And what is most important to the enemy.
Only then will we be successful.
Sun Tzu said that,
"There is no instance of a nation benefiting
"from prolonged warfare."
This is important.
Though it's called The Art of War,
it's not about seeking conflict,
it's about seeking resolution.
In war, even if we win, we also lose.
We get far more from life - personally, professionally,
and spiritually - when we work to remain in harmony
with the world around us.
"To win 100 battles is not the height of skill,"
said Sun Tzu, "to subdue the enemy without fighting is."
So success can mean that everybody wins.
In the corporate world,
it's very common to find mergers and strategic alliances
formed by fierce competitors.
Clearly, when they go to the negotiating table,
it's not with the intention of "killing each other."
Rather, they view the other company
simply as the other side,
which could mean they're a competitor,
or it could mean they're potential strategic partners.
In business negotiations,
knowing everything you can about your counterpart
will set you up for success.
But that doesn't mean just knowing their strategy,
or even their strengths and weaknesses.
It means understanding them, what they're thinking,
what they're feeling, what their needs are.
This can be vital for improving communication,
which can make a successful outcome
more likely for everyone.
But to do that, you must truly know yourself.
It might be human nature to feel like we give our focus
only to intruders, but that can be a costly mistake.
If we don't know fully ourselves,
we become our own worst enemy.
We can't course-correct
and an implosion or breakdown becomes inevitable.
The truth is, we'll never enjoy long-lasting success
if we don't know ourselves from within.
You must look at your own infrastructure,
your own foundation, your own resilience.
If it's compromised,
you will crumble in your first challenge.
The reality of life is that adversity does occur,
and when that happens,
we need to change our plans and be flexible.
If one way seems to fail, we try another one.
There is always a way.
Our job is simply to find it
and then pursue it once we have gathered our strength.
We don't give up on our goal because it got harder.
We instead ask ourselves:
How can we use this to our advantage?
What can we do right now to adapt and succeed anyway?
We then discover that every obstacle also contains
the opportunity to better ourselves,
and our organization.