The Art of War applied to business

Sun Tzu's Art of War is one of the older treatises on strategy that are known (6th century BC), and it is such an important book that today it is still studied in all the military academies of the world and many business schools.

Why?

Very few books contain such great wisdom on the art of strategy.

It is a book that I constantly return to and in which I always find a clue, an indication, a strategy for the situation I am in.

This is why, we are going to see in detail The Art of War applied to the company.

Basic teaching on The Art of War and business

Sun Tzu understood that war was a hell that only caused destruction.

Therefore, his mission was to unravel how you could win in those circumstances, as soon as possible and causing the minimum damage.

In reality, he advocated because the ideal was to win without doing harm and, if it could not be done, then do only what is strictly necessary to obtain the objectives.

The reality is that when we try to achieve a goal with our business, we are facing a conflict, a war.

You have to beat inertia, you have to beat the competition, you have to beat the unexpected, the incredulity of customers, etc.

Likewise, to obtain the objectives there are many ways. The question is that whoever dominates the strategy masters the ability to choose the most suitable paths.

Being entrepreneurs, we throw ourselves onto the battlefield of uncertainty and we meet all kinds of enemies (many of an internal nature in the form of our fears).

This is why the Art of War applied to the company will help us defeat all those rivals.

Like any masterpiece, The Art of War captures the unique essence behind things and that essence is applicable to any circumstance of a company: a negotiation, a sale or anything else in which there is a goal to meet and obstacles to overcome.

By modern standards the book of The Art of War it is brief. But each sentence is made to be read calmly, meditate on it and extract how it can be applied to our situation.

That is why, here we are going to see the principles of the book and a series of comments about how it is applied The Art of War to the world of company and business.

Those comments are based on 20 years of own experience and are reflected in the gray boxes in each section, while the original text is in black on white.

And without further ado, let's see how to apply The Art of War and their strategies to business and the company.

Section 1. The Estimates

War is a matter of vital relevance to the State; a matter of life and death, the path to survival or destruction. In this way, it is imperative to study it deeply.

It must be evaluated in terms of five fundamental factors, and comparisons made between various conditions of the opposing sides, in order to establish the outcome of the contest.

The first of these factors is politics; the second, the climate; the third, the land; the fourth, the commander; and the fifth, doctrine.

Politics means that which makes the people in harmony with their ruler, so that they follow him wherever he may, without fearing for their lives or running in any danger.

Translated these factors into the business context, the first is the environment in the company.

If we are not all rowing in the same direction, we get along well and we clearly know the objectives, the rest is useless.

Nothing corrodes a business more than politicking and dissatisfaction.

Weather means night and day, hot and cold, clear or rainy days, and the changing of the seasons.

The second is the current situation in terms of economic, social and legislative conditions that may affect us.

In the same way that when it rains in war it does for everyone, when there is a bad economic climate we all play in that context.

As we will not be able to control the climate, it is inevitable that it will go through phases and blaming it is not much use. It only makes us lose energy and morale.

What we can do is prepare ourselves and fundamentally, if bad weather catches us, acting, standing still complaining and doing nothing is much more wet than seeking shelter, building one or being better prepared to endure it.

The terrain implies distances, and refers to where it is easy or difficult to move, and whether it is open country or narrow places, and this influences the chances of survival.

The terrain is identical to the market in which we compete, who strives to know and dominate it has a huge advantage.

In reality, I always say that the market is the key to success or failure in a business.

Complaining about rocks or difficult again is useless. The terrain also affects all players equally.

The commander must have as qualities: wisdom, sincerity, benevolence, courage and discipline.

The fourth factor is in this circumstance the entrepreneur himself, the commander of the company.

Especially in a small and medium-sized company, it is the most important element because of how it is, what you dedicate time to, your passion, how you run the company, etc. they will be aspects that affect the entire proposal.

Finally, the doctrine has to be understood as the organization of the army, the ranks and ranks among the officers, the regulation of supply routes, and the provision of military material to the army.

The doctrine is the strategy and culture of the company: how it acts, how it does and deals with things, the work processes it has established, how those who work for the proposal behave.

These five fundamental factors must be known to every general. He who dominates them, wins; he who does not, is defeated.

In this way, when drawing up plans, the following seven factors must be compared, each one being assessed with the greatest care:

1. Which leader is the wisest and most capable?

The term leader (and later "commander") refers to the entrepreneur.

In the case of competing directly, it is clear that it refers to the entrepreneurs involved in the fight.

In any other case, the question is whether the entrepreneur is going to be wiser and more capable than the situation he faces, in order to master it and achieve the goal he has set for himself.

Army, the War art applied to business refers to the rest of the people involved in the company.

2. Which commander has the greatest talent?

3. Which army takes advantage of nature and terrain?

4. In which army are regulations and instructions best observed?

5. Which troops are stronger?

6. Which army has better trained officers and troops?

7. Which army administers rewards and punishments more fairly?

Through studying these seven factors, I will be able to guess which side will be victorious and which will be defeated.

As we can see, the seven questions are all an analysis of our company and of the competition, similar to a SWOT analysis.

Apart from being a good way to do a strategic analysis, it is essential to see that they refer to only one thing: PERSONS.

That is the most important thing in the Art of War and in a company.

Strategies, resources, etc. influence, but the important thing and what will give victory is have the right people and know how to manage them.

How Jim Collins concluded his book Good to great, of all the factors that make a company succeed the most important is to have the right people in the right seats on the bus.

Have that and the ingenuity, dedication and professionalism of those suitable people will, in one way or another, find a solution to the lack of resources and the obstacles that arise.

The general who follows my advice is sure to win. That general is to be kept in command. He who ignores my advice will surely be defeated. That one must be removed.

After taking my advice and plans into account, the general must create a situation that contributes to their fulfillment. By situation I mean that you must take into consideration the situation on the field, and act according to what is advantageous to you.

The art of war is based on the scam.

In this way, when he is able to attack, he must appear incapable; when troops move, appear inactive.

If he is close to the enemy, he must make him believe that he is far away; if it is far away, pretend to be close.

Put bait to lure the enemy. Hitting the enemy when he's messed up. Prepare against it when you are safe everywhere. Avoid during a time when it is stronger.

If your opponent has a choleric temper, try to irritate him. If he is arrogant, try to promote his selfishness. If the enemy troops are well prepared after a reorganization, try to disrupt them. If they are united, sowing dissension among their ranks.

Attack the enemy when they are not ready, and appear when they are not expecting you. These are the keys to victory for the strategist.

Many important things to comment on.

The first thing is that Sun Tzu introduces a fundamental key that governs anything that has to do with people: THAT PERCEPTION IS REALITY.

When he talks about how everything is based on the scam and explains how to apply it, he is making one thing clear, it is perception that counts.

The best way to be perceived as the best product is, apparently, to be the best product, since reality is the basic stone of perception.

But a reality can be distorted, made up or beautified, and since the final perception is what counts, we can misjudge things.

This paragraph probably contains the essence of the entire effective strategy:

People make decisions according to their perception, which can be altered without touching the reality on which it is based..

Hence, Sun Tzu says that the art of war is based on the thymus, in other words, on the perception and the opportunity to be altered even when we cannot change reality.

Simple example.

Two restaurants offer a menu that is practically equivalent in terms of quality and components, but one makes it twice as expensive.

If we ask, most people will perceive the expensive menu as better, even when it is practically the same in the most basic reality. In the same way, you can alter perception by changing the menu description.

By way of example, saying "mushrooms" is not the same as "boletus fresh with the chef's special sauce.

The following keys after putting the perception of our part are easy:

Attack the weak point and do the unexpected, which may seem logical but in practice nobody applies it.

As an example, when a large surface is located near small stores and competes on price (which is its strong point), what is the reaction of the small ones usually?

Trying to play the big game by lowering prices and believing they can win.

That is the same as going headlong to attack the stronghold. For some strange reason we ants think we can beat the elephant in tests of strength.

Sun Tzu proposes to attack the weak point, look for the deficiency that the enemy does not cover and employ ourselves in it.

Now, if the estimates made before the battle indicate victory, it is because carefully performed calculations show that your conditions are more favorable than the enemy's; if they indicate defeat, it is because they show that the favorable conditions for battle are less.

With careful evaluation, one can win; without it, you can't.

He who does not perform calculations at all will have much less chance of victory.

Through all this, one can guess the final outcome of the battle.

Sun Tzu was a firm believer in planning, he believed that planning would almost certainly bring victory. Considering that in his time many armies and wars were little more than bands of untrained peasants this was true. A little planning represented a huge advantage as he was practically the only one who did it.

Interestingly, the world of small and medium-sized businesses is quite similar to that context, since very few activities take the time to plan even if it is a little. Over and over again I have seen it over the years working with the marketing of various companies.

So Sun Tzu proposes to plan and pay attention to the fundamental keys.

Even if it is done only a little, we will always have more possibilities than not looking up from the navel, something that unfortunately is more common than it seems.

Section 2. Make war

In war operations, when a thousand four-horse fast chariots, a thousand heavy chariots, and a thousand soldiers are required; when provisions for a thousand are to be transported; When there are expenses at home and at the front, and stipends for envoys and advisers, the cost of materials such as rubber and shellac, chariots and armor, easily amounts to a thousand pieces of gold a day.

An army of one hundred thousand men can be put on the campaign only when this money is in hand.

Cash is king, the hard cash is the king, the most necessary.

Without it, we have nothing in our business.

No room for maneuver, no ability to do the least.

Practical conclusion of The Art of War applied to business:

Always keep your treasury budget in mind and keep it square to the penny.

At the end of the day this is business and before lifting a finger (or the army of one or a thousand cars) the issue of money has to be clear and controlled, nothing blind.

A quick victory is the main objective of the war. If victory is slow to come, weapons lose their edge and morale drops. If troops attack cities, their strength wears out. When an army engages in a protracted campaign, the state's resources dwindle rapidly.

When your weapons are dull and the heat fades, your strength exhausted, and treasure spent, the heads of neighboring states will take advantage of the crisis to act.

In that case, no man, however wise, will be able to avoid the disastrous consequences that result.

For all this, while we have heard a lot about stupid squanderings in wartime, we have not yet seen a smart operation that was prolonged. There has never been a long war that has benefited the country.

From all this it follows that those who are incapable of understanding the dangers inherent in employing troops are equally incapable of understanding how to use them to advantage.

Those skilled at warfare do not need a second levy of recruits, or more than two supplies. Military equipment is transported from home, but the enemy is trusted for supplies. Thus, the army will be fully provided with food.

When a country is impoverished by military operations, it is due to distant transportation; carrying supplies long distances leaves the people helpless. While the troops are assembled, prices go up. When prices go up, the wealth of the people goes down. When wealth goes down, the people suffer harsh demands.

With this loss of wealth and strength, those who have resources are extremely impoverished, and seven-tenths of their resources are dissipated. And among government expenditures, those due to replace broken chariots, exhausted horses, armor and helmets, bows and arrows, shields, mantlets, and supply carts, consume up to 60 percent of the total.

When a book is named after the War art many believe that it is a compendium that extols warmongering and how to destroy the other.

Nothing is further from reality.

Another of the key points of Sun Tzu's philosophy is that the best war is the war that does not start.

And that when we are immersed in it, the goal is to finish as soon as possible.

In the immortal words of William Sherman: "War is hell."

This is why Sun Tzu already said that the best general is the one who wins without fighting and that, if you are forced to do so, the mission is to finish as soon as possible because every minute that passes plays against everyone.

The point here is that when we are entrepreneurs there is no reward for effort.

Nor for having sacrificed more than anyone. If we have a goal, the smart entrepreneur is the one who meets it, having to sacrifice less time and effort.

After years in this field of work, I have seen and experienced many things, some of them not very pleasant, such as the abandonment of loved initiatives or that whoever least deserved it has had to close down.

In those cases nobody comes to put a medal for the effort and nobody recognizes the shedding of blood, sweat and tears.

Basically you take the hit, you close the door and the world keeps spinning impassively.

This is why I am very pragmatic and translating this passage of the book into more familiar terms the teaching is:

Always apply the 80/20 Principle in any circumstance.

Therefore, an intelligent general makes his troops supply from the enemy, since one measure of enemy provisions is identical to twenty of his own, and one measure of the enemy's food is equal to twenty of his own.

In order to increase the courage of the soldiers in attacking the enemy, he must anger them. In order to capture more loot from the enemy, you must reward them.

As an example, in a tank fight in which ten enemy tanks have been captured, reward the one who took the first one. Replace the enemy flags with your own, mix the captured tanks with your own, and mount them. Treat prisoners of war well, and take care of them. This is called winning a battle and coming out stronger.

This is an important human resource management lesson.

Another feature of the War art is that having an army capable of winning battles depends on the ability to reward effort and keep our people motivated.

For all this, and since the only thing of value in war is victory, do not prolong the operations. The general who understands how to employ the troops is the arbiter of the destiny of the nation.

Section 3. Offensive strategy

Generally speaking, the best policy in war is to take an intact state; ruining it is inferior. Capturing the entire enemy army is better than destroying it. Taking a regiment, a company or a squad intact is better than destroying it.

Obtaining a hundred victories in a hundred battles is not the measure of skill: to subdue the enemy without fighting is the supreme excellence.

Here is the most important point of the book that we had already advanced, the only good war is the one that is not foughtAny confrontation only leads to wear and tear and the best general is the one who wins with the minimum of struggle.

This point is developed in the subsequent paragraphs where he simply advocates that you have to do everything possible to obtain the objective without resorting to battle, and the last of the last is to attack where the other is strongest.

When there is no "other", as it can be a clear competition that affects us, but we want to conquer it, it is a fixed objective, then our main adversary is ourselves and the obstacles that we have to go through so that someone goes from unknown to client .

In those cases the premise is identical.

Let's not go where it is more complex, let's use the optimal means of communication, let's look for the message formulas that work best, let's gradually attract instead of trying a first-time sale ...

In gymnastics, the artistic execution of an exercise and the difficulty of the pirouettes are valued, but the last time I checked, business was the exact opposite of gymnastics.

There is no merit in crashing down the road trying the hardest. Customers do not pity and choose us that is why.

In this way, what is of utmost relevance in war is attacking the enemy's strategy. The second best thing is to break your alliances through diplomacy. Third comes attacking your army. And the worst of all strategies is to attack cities.

Attacking cities is something that only has to be done when there is no other option, since preparing shields and transporting them, and having the necessary weapons and equipment ready, takes at least three months, and assembling the siege engines and stopovers to storm the ramparts, you need another three additional months. The general, unable to control his impatience, will order the troops to charge against the walls, with the result that a third of them will perish without having taken the city. That's how dire it is to attack cities.

Thus, the truly skilled in war subdue the enemy army without a battle. They capture enemy cities without assaulting them, and seize the enemy state without prolonged campaigns. His goal is to take everything under heaven intact, through strategic considerations. As a consequence, your troops will not wear out, and the profits will be complete.

This is the art of the offensive strategy.

Therefore, the art of using troops is this: If you are ten times your enemy, surround him. If he's five times stronger, attack him. If he has twice the strength, divide him. If he's up to par, outdo him through a good plan. If you are outnumbered, be able to keep a path of retreat open. And if he is at a disadvantage in all respects, be able to elude him, for a small force is nothing but booty for a more powerful one, if he confronts it recklessly.

This is the summary of how to pose the "offensive."

As we can see, the last thing is to fight, always trying to get things with the greatest advantage and the best loss (80/20 principle).

Y If we see that we are going to lose, we do not fight.

Simple as that, Sun Tzu was a pragmatist.

Now then we will see what he proposes to do if we have no choice but to face something, but that of fighting certain death only looks good in the movies ...

The general is the assistant to the sovereign of the state. If this assistance is close, the state will undoubtedly be strong; if it is weak, the state will surely be weak.

There are three ways a sovereign can lead his army to defeat:

1. Yes, unaware that the army should not step forward, it orders an advance; or if, unaware that he should not retreat, he orders a retreat. This is known as unbalancing the army.
2. Yes, ignorant of military affairs, he interferes in their management. This causes perplexity among the officers.
3. Yes, ignorant of the problems of command, he interferes in the direction of the fight. This breeds doubts in the minds of the officers.

If the army is confused and suspicious, neighboring rulers will take advantage of it, and cause trouble. This is what the phrase means: A confused army leads to the victory of the other.

In The Art of War applied to business, this is a summary of people management.

Remember that it is not only essential to have the most appropriate ones, but also to have them in the appropriate seat in the vehicle.

A creative genius doing accounting is useless.

I fundamentally remember when I was a consultant in a large company, which was basically a family business, with all the defects and virtues that they have. The key issue is that a manager was hired to run the business and that the family was engaged in decision-making at the board level.

But on a day-to-day basis, said manager was with his hands tied and the whole family interfering in the administration, each one pulling the rope to the side that he saw fit.

Sun Tzu would say there that the ruler is interfering in the general's affairs and would have correctly predicted the situation there and that it was a disaster.

Apart from this, there are five cases in which victory can be predicted:

1. He who knows when he can fight and when not, will be victorious.
2. He who understands how to fight, according to the forces of the adversary, will be victorious.
3. He whose ranks are united in purpose will be victorious.
4. He who is well prepared and rests waiting for an enemy who is not well prepared will be victorious.
5. He whose generals are capable and do not suffer interference from his sovereign, will be victorious.

It is at these five points that the path to victory is known.

Again this is fundamental knowledge, but exactly because it seems like it, we often miss it.

In my personal experience with several of my own initiatives, the first point for a small entrepreneur is to know which battles to choose and which to let go.

We do not have great resources, so we have to look very well if the projects, efforts and daily battles are focused on that 20% that the 80% will give us results.

Therefore I say to you: Know your enemy and know yourself; in a hundred battles, you will never be defeated. If you are ignorant of your enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are the same. If you are ignorant of your enemy and yourself, you can be sure of being defeated in every battle.

Section 4. Provisions

The skilled warriors of ancient times first made themselves invincible, and then awaited a moment of vulnerability from the enemy. Invincibility depends on oneself, but the vulnerability of the enemy depends on him. From this it follows that one who is skilled in war can make himself invincible, but it is not certain that he will be able to make the enemy vulnerable.

Here is another of the key points of Sun Tzu's philosophy:

If you want to win, you must become the best at what you do (even when it is boring, expensive or hard).

What Bill Gates, The Beatles and so many others who reached the top have in common is that they devoted themselves to their own and did not stop until they were teachers in what they did.

We all wish there were shortcuts, but no. Do we want to get high in our activity? There is no other way than to dedicate yourself to being the best.

In other words, you can know how to win, but this does not necessarily mean that you are going to win.

Defend yourself when you cannot defeat the enemy, and attack the enemy when you can defeat him. You defend yourself when your strength is inadequate; it attacks when it is abundant.

Those who are skilled at defending hide themselves as under nine layers of earth; those who are in attack fall like lightning from the sky. Therefore, those skilled in attacking and defending are capable of both protecting themselves and achieving a landslide victory.

Here is another critical key to Sun Tzu's philosophy.

Whoever wants to win has to ALWAYS be ON THE OFFENSIVE. That is the only way to win.

Always proactive, always on the offensive, with a clear objective and attacking it, setting the pace and the tempo.

It's what leaders do.

We will only be defensive when we have no other choice.

This in practice translates into having clear objectives and not waiting for conditions to be "best". We cannot depend on having this software ready, that everything is perfect ...

When we are letting external things mark the tempo of what we do and determine our actions, we are on the defensive and that leads to disaster.

When the crisis was at its peak in 2008, I heard nothing but the usual litany that, given the uncertainty, it was better to tighten the belt, not take risks and wait for the storm to pass and conditions to be better.

Everyone was advocating to get defensive and if Sun Tzu had been there, he would have yelled at all of us.

That 2008 I carried out the main projects that I had proposed myself, even when in my own head there were rumors that perhaps it was not a good time.

It was the best year of Resources for SMEs since its inception.

Staying on the offensive, actively trying to reach the proposed objectives was what got me there.

Despite what they say around us and our internal fears, if we are not tied hand and foot and we can move, then we have to adopt an offensive attitude.

And if the others go to the opposite strategy ... better for us.

Foreseeing a victory that an ordinary man can foresee is not the spirit of excellence. It does not matter if you triumph in battle and are universally acclaimed as an 'expert', lifting a fallen leaf does not require great strength, distinguishing between day and night is not proof of great vision, hearing thunder is not proof of keen hearing .

In ancient times, those who were called "skilled in warfare" conquered easily conquerable enemies. And the victories achieved by one of those "masters of war" did not mean either a reputation for wisdom or meritorious courage, for they were victorious without risk. Without risks, victory is surely achieved: you can conquer an enemy already defeated, without the need to plan the fight.

In this way, the skilled commander takes a position in which he cannot be defeated, and does not lose the possibility of defeating his enemy. A victorious army always seeks battle after its plans indicate that victory is feasible, while an army destined for defeat fights with the hope of victory, but without any plan. Those who are experts in war cultivate their policies and strictly adhere to the rules laid out.

Sun Tzu cautions that easy victories have no merit. One can win because basically the conditions are very good (there is no competition by way of example), which immediately leads us to believe that we are the best, when in fact we are the king because no one else has come to fish in our secret pond.

But the entrepreneur really knows that you have to plan and aim to be the best at what you do, since these situations don't last long.

When I started with Resources for SMEs, the first product was a Pack for Freelancers.

With practically no competition in terms of product, and also no competition in the main marketing medium used (Pay Per Click Marketing), that was the closest thing to income on autopilot.

It seemed that he had found the grail but in fact it was a victory without merit, as Sun Tzu would say.

Over time, competition was appearing, both in product and the competition in Pay per Click Marketing in the Google search engine became fiercer.

The easy wind in favor was over and so I invested in learning how to master this Marketing, at the same time creating new versions of the product improving the offer.

I went on the offensive and that's how I managed to keep winning. This time, with merit.

The lesson is that a real entrepreneur would not have behaved the way I did in the beginning, basically letting go of what was easy.

If I had applied myself from the first moment to planning and preparing, I would have obtained more.

In this way, they have control of events in their power.

The items of the art of war are: first, the measurement of space; second, the estimation of quantities; third, the calculations; fourth, the comparisons; and fifth, the chances of victory. The measure of space derives from the terrain. Comparisons are made from numbers and calculations, and victory is determined based on these comparisons. Thus, a victorious army is like a sack balanced against a grain of rice, and a defeated army is like a grain of rice balanced against a sack.

It is as a consequence of the provisions taken that a general is able to make his soldiers fight with the effect of the waters that, suddenly released from a dam, fall into a bottomless abyss.

Plan. Get to know the game you have gotten into as an entrepreneur and get readyThis way you will be able to control the events and stay on the offensive for longer (determining objectives and going after them) instead of being on the defensive, dragged by the emergencies and running to cover the waterways.

Many companies that I saw as a consultant acted like this. There were no plans because every day the plan is to see where the fire is and run to put it out to survive until the next day.

Not only did they not last long because in the end those fires always win, but the curious thing was that in those initiatives, when there was no urgent fire to put out, they did not know what to do, basically they let themselves be carried away without doing anything or adopting a position. offensive to set new targets and act, until the next urgency appeared ...

Section 5. Attitude of the Army

Generally speaking, commanding a large army is the same as commanding a few men. It is a question of organization. And leading a large army is the same as leading a few men. It is a question of training and signals.

This part of the book deals more fully with the subject of human resources. At War art applied to business, these human resources are both those who work in the company and ourselves.

Sun Tzu was of the opinion that if one knows human nature, then leading a small army was not much different from a large one, as long as there was a clear organization ("training and signals").

The most important thing is that, as we will see, Sun Tzu makes a distinction that can be a bit politically incorrect, but the truth is that it is real as life itself.

That an army is able to withstand the enemy attack without suffering defeat is due to the joint operations of normal forces and extraordinary forces. Troops charging at the enemy like a millstone against a pile of eggs is an example of a solid performance against an empty one.

This is another important point in Sun Tzu's philosophy when it comes to managing people.

Not everyone is the same, there is someone who is worth and is a star (extraordinary forces) and who is useful and can do a good job, but not necessarily an exceptional (normal forces).

This does not entail belittling anyone, basically if we look sincerely we will see that this is the case, there are people who are worth for what they do and people who are not.

This usually has more to do with adaptation to the position and daily work than with personal capacity..

Let's remember the example of putting the computer genius of an accountant. It is a "star" in its own way, which in that case will soon become a "normal force."

However, it is also true that there are more valid people than others and that it must be taken into account.

In general, in battle, normal force is used to resist, and extraordinary forces to win. The resources of those who are experts in the use of extraordinary forces are as infinite as the sky, as inexhaustible as the flow of great rivers, as they end and begin again - cyclically, like the movements of the sun and the moon.

This paragraph is the summary of the entire human resources management of Sun Tzu.

Use the normal forces to resist and the extraordinary ones to attack, or what is the same, use the "stars" for the offensive (involve them in the active projects that we intend to obtain and in the area dedicated to obtaining clients) and use the rest for reactive and defensive tasks, such as management, accounting, mechanical tasks and other essential things, but that do not make us advance a meter in what we propose.

Or what is the same in business terms, which do not fundamentally help to obtain a single sale or customer.

One of my mentors solved the Human Resources issue easily: "Always hire stars."

Or what is the same, form an army composed solely of extraordinary forces, looking for the best to put them in the right seats on the bus.

In that, he never skimped a penny.

Even for support tasks such as management, data entry into systems, maintenance, etc. he struggled to see who could be better.

I was aware that what can make something sail or wreck is the person you put and used the opposite strategy of many companies that I have seen.

In many of them the nefarious hiring policy was to offer the minimum salary and not to worry about what training or experience the candidates had.

Truly, the only requirement is that they be able to accept that low salary and work hours.

These companies prided themselves on the lower costs when it came to accounting, as if that were a merit and as if it were the costs, not the revenues and profits, that could truly bring a company to the site. that was proposed.

The worst thing is that it happened mainly in the commercial department, the first line of contact when it comes to obtaining clients.

Needless to say, the result was that the people who were there only had the concern of finding a better job and putting up with that until then.

They did not worry about learning or improving, they did not have the slightest notions of sales or customer treatment.

Their only quality was having been able to accept (because they had no choice, which we have all done) a job for that salary and under those conditions.

Reaction of those responsible for Human Resources? Not having read Sun Tzu and not knowing how to apply The Art of War to business. In other words, complain about how nefarious their workers were, the high turnover of staff and how difficult it was to find good people for that.

They can die and are reborn - recurring, as is the passing of the seasons. Musical notes are like the seasons. They are only five in number, but their combinations are so endless that no one can visualize them all. The flavors are only five in number, but their blends are so variable that no one can taste them all. In battle, only normal and extraordinary forces exist, but their combinations also have no limits, no one can understand them all. For these two forces reproduce mutually. It is like endless movement in a circle. Who can exhaust the opportunities of their combinations?

When the torrential waters wash away the stones, it is because of their momentum; When the flight of a hawk breaks the body of its prey, it is because of its precision. Thus, the momentum of one experienced in war is overwhelming, and his attack extremely precise. Its potential is that of a full quiver; his precision, the loosening of the bowstring.

In the midst of the tumult, the battle seems chaotic, but there must be no disorder in the troops themselves. The battlefield may seem like confusion and chaos, but your side must be ordered. Thus it will be defeat-proof. The apparent confusion is the result of a good arrangement; apparent cowardice, of courage; apparent weakness, of strength. Order and disorder depend on the organization and direction; courage and cowardice, of the circumstances; strength and weakness, of the tactical dispositions.

Sun Tzu, at a time when the armies were nothing more than bands formed by the men of the towns who went out to defend their territory when he played, and the rest of the year were peasants, artisans, etc. clearly saw that organization was the key, since no one else had it.

As we have already commented, the context of the small entrepreneur today is very similar to that.

I have seen some businesses that literally do not know how much they enter. Or that they let different employees switch shifts based on personal preferences, even when it was organizational chaos.

Even today, many entrepreneurs are like that peasant who, due to circumstances, had to be a soldier, something for which he was not prepared.

Many entrepreneurs are good professionals at what they do but know almost nothing about business.

In this context, a little organization based on setting objectives, trying to present a better offer and knowing a little more than others about Marketing media, goes further than others.

Actually this is a key in small entrepreneurs. Most of the time it is not necessary to be the best in the world, but better than the others, this is usually enough on repeated occasions.

Thus, he who is able to make the enemy move, does so by creating a situation, according to which the enemy will act. Tempt the enemy with something you want to achieve. Keep him moving by holding that something out of reach, and then attack him with chosen troops.

A skilled commander gains victory from the situation, and does not demand it from his subordinates. Select the right men and exploit the situation. He who is able to use the situation, uses his men in the fight as rollers or as blocks of stone: the nature of a roller is such that on flat ground it remains static; on a slope, it moves. A square block of stone stops anything; if it is round, roll.

Thus, the energy of skillfully led troops in battle can be compared to the momentum of a mill wheel that is allowed to roll from the top of a 1,000 meter high slope.

Section 6. Void and Reality

In general, the one who occupies the battlefield first and waits for the enemy can rest, and the one who arrives later on the scene and rushes into the fight, starts out tired. In this way, he who is skilled in war draws the enemy to the battlefield, and does not allow himself to be led there by the enemy.

We entered the part of the philosophy that was most innovative in Sun Tzu.

But as always, the first premise is to be the one who handles the situation and stays on the offensive setting the tone. Place yourself in a position to create advantages (competitive in our case) and be a leader.

Actually, and as specified in the legendary book The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, We must be the leader in what we do and if it is not viable to look for a gap or category in which to place ourselves and be able to be leaders.

The point is that, if we are followers and do not mark the proposal, we are on the defensive, something that, as we have already seen, is only used if there is no other remedy and sooner or later ends in disaster.

Now comes a more immense excerpt that is worth reading carefully before explaining how that applies in the context of the entrepreneur.

Whoever is able to get the enemy to his own field does so by offering him some kind of advantage. And whoever is capable of delaying the arrival of the enemy succeeds in making it stop as a precaution. So when the enemy is rested, be able to exhaust him; when he is well fed, be able to starve him; when he's resting, make him move.

Take the places that he is unable to rescue; Move gently in the direction where you are least expected.

When you are able to move a thousand li (ancient Chinese distance measure) without getting tired, it is because you travel through places where there are no enemies. The way to make sure you take what you attack is by attacking the place that the enemy does not defend or cannot protect.

The way to make sure you maintain the position you defend is to defend a position that the enemy either fears or is unable to attack. In this way, against those skilled in attack, the enemy will not know how to defend himself, and against those skilled in defense, the enemy will not know how to attack.

Subtle and insubstantial, the expert leaves no trace. So divinely mysterious that it is inaudible. This is the owner of the enemy's destiny. Your offense will be irresistible if you throw it against the opponent's weak positions. It cannot be surpassed when it retires, if it moves quickly. When I decide to fight, my enemy, even protected by high walls and deep moats, cannot avoid facing me, because I attack a position that he must defend. When I want to avoid battle, I can defend myself basically by drawing a line on the ground: the enemy will be unable to attack me, because I have made him move to a different place than he wanted.

This is Sun Tzu's philosophy of attack and maneuver.

As we can see, it represents the ideal way to maneuver and "hit." A mastery that Sun Tzu insisted on obtaining as it was if one wanted not to be destroyed by any circumstance of conflict.

But what interests us is knowing how to apply that particular art of war to business.

Simply, our task is work to strike where the enemy cannot defend himself and behave in such a way that he cannot hit us or his blows have no effect.

This is achieved by always trying to be at another level. And how do we get to be on another level?

Striving to have a different and irresistible offer.

If our product or service is different and offers something that no one else can, then we are literally on another level and competing in another league.

Which is the secret of this perfect way of maneuvering that Sun Tzu proposes.

No competitor is going to be able to hurt us, because basically he is fifty meters below and does not get to do anything to us.

As long as we have a relevant competitive advantage, no competitor can touch us.

We are so far ahead of him that if he tries to hit he will not get there, we are not there, there is only air, we are one level higher and fifty meters ahead as we strive to obtain that advantage.

And then, we are constantly sharpening this advantage, so that no one closes the distance and can hit us.

In the same way, when we have that competitive advantage, we are hitting at key points that incline the customer to buy and that others cannot hit because we are the best.

As long as this is the case, they will continue to decide mainly for us and the blows of the others will be null.

Desperate the enemy, set the tone by carrying the proposal and know what are the advantageous points of the battle to dominate them.

Specifically, what are the triggers that, when pulled, trigger the purchase of our customers.

The climax of this strategy (and of the entire Art of War book) is winning without fighting.

What the business strategy means for entrepreneurs Blue ocean (a definition popularized by the best-selling book that has the title).

The Blue Ocean strategy is to create spaces without competition reinventing what we do and not going headlong where everyone is fighting.

Sun Tzu then comments on ways to maneuver in conflict that are self-explanatory.

It is not difficult to see that, in essence, they are wonderfully applicable to any circumstance in which we are immersed when it comes to achieving a goal in our business. Therefore, it is worth reading them carefully.

If I am able to establish the enemy's dispositions while at the same time concealing my own, then I can concentrate my forces, and his forces must be divided. And if I focus while he splits, I can use all my strength to attack a fraction of his. Therefore, I will be numerically superior. If I am able to use many to hit a few at a chosen point, those will fall without remission.

The enemy must not know where I will try to fight. For if he does not know where I am trying to fight, he has to make preparations in many different places. And when he prepares in many places, those with whom I will have to fight will be less. If you prepare at the front, your rear will be weak, and if you prepare your rear, your front will be fragile. If you reinforce your left, your right will be vulnerable, and if you reinforce your right, you will have few troops left for the left. And if you send troops everywhere, you will be weak everywhere. Numerical inferiority derives from having to guard against possible attacks; numerical superiority derives from forcing the enemy to make such preparations against us.

If you know where and when the battle will be fought, your troops can march a thousand li (Chinese unit away) and reach the place. But if one ignores what the battlefield will be or the day it will be fought, the left will be unable to help the right and the right will be unable to help the left, and the vanguard will be unable to support the rear, and vice versa. Much more still if they are separated by tens of li or, even, by only a few. Despite estimating the opposing troops as numerous, how does this superiority benefit him with respect to the final result of the war? Thus, victory can still be achieved, for even if the enemy is numerically superior, direct encounter with his totality can be avoided.

Analyze the enemy's plans so that you can find out their weak points and their strengths. Shake him in order to identify the patterns of his movements. Decoy him to reveal his dispositions, and determine his position. Launch a test attack to learn where it is strong and where it is weak. The main objective in the disposition of the own troops is to place them without presenting an identifiable form. In this way, neither the most penetrating of spies can intrude, nor the wisest can plot against you.

It is according to the situation, how the plans lead to victory, but most do not understand this. Even though anyone can see the external aspects, no one understands how victory has truly been achieved. When a battle is won, the tactics must not be repeated. One must always respond to circumstances in an infinite variety of ways.

Or what is the same, no plan or strategy should be executed equally and blindly on all occasions, but adapting to the situation.

There are no magic bullets.

Now, an army can be identical to water, for in the same way that flowing water avoids heights and goes to the plain, an army must avoid force and attack on weakness. And just as water flows and takes shape according to the terrain, so an army goes to victory according to the enemy's situation. Just as water does not have a constant shape, there are no constant conditions in war. He who is capable of obtaining victory by modifying his tactics according to the enemy's situation may well be called divine.

Of the five items (water, fire, metal, wood and earth), none always predominates; of the four seasons, none lasts permanently; of the days, some are long and some are short, and the moon waxes and wanes. This is also the rule that governs the employment of troops.

Section 7. Maneuvers

Regularly, in time of war, the general receives his orders from the sovereign of the state. Throughout the process of organizing the troops and mobilizing your men, to turn your army into a harmonious entity and place it in position, nothing is more difficult than the art of maneuvering to advantageous positions. The complexity of the subject is to turn the most intricate route into the most direct route, and distract the enemy with decoys. To achieve this, you must get going after the opponent does, and reach the battlefield before him. Whoever is capable of doing this shows his knowledge of the artifice of distraction.

Advantage and danger are both inherent in maneuvering for an advantageous position. He who sets the entire army in motion, together with its impedimenta, pursuing an advantageous position, will not obtain it. If you leave the camp and all the equipment in the fight for the advantage, you will lose all your equipment. If you order your men to force marches without armor, without stopping day and night, to cover twice the usual distance in a displacement, and covering a hundred li in the fight for the advantage, it is possible that you see your commanders are captured.

The strongest and most resistant men will arrive first, and the weakest will be still behind; thus, if this method is used, only one hundredth of the army will reach its destination. In a forced march of fifty li, the vanguard commander will probably fall, but half his men will arrive. In a forced march of thirty li, only two-thirds will arrive. This means that an army in which heavy equipment, supplies, food and luggage is left behind will be lost.

He who does not agree with the designs of his neighbors, should not agree to alliances with them.

Put a partner or employee in the proposal who does not agree with the objectives and strategy and you will have put a bomb under the seat with the lit fuse.

Those who do not know the conditions of mountains and forests, dangerous gorges, marshes and swamps, cannot lead the march of an army. Those who do not employ local guides are unable to take advantage of the terrain.

Again Sun Tzu is very influenced because he was immersed in a context that could be summed up in the proverb: "In the land of the blind, the one-eyed is king." Don't plan or probe ahead of time and you are doomed to fail, which is more common in business than it sounds.

Recently, I was participating in a chat with entrepreneurs, and when the topic of business plans came up, someone who had seen thousands literally put the note of sanity.

He commented that, if the business plans were of any use, it was to stop for a moment and take a look, recognizing the terrain, because many ideas, assumptions and objectives that we have in mind basically fall apart by taking a minimal look at how it is said terrain and what it would take to cross it.

From my experience nothing is more true. Even myself, moved by passion and wanting to get out a personal project that I really liked, I launched myself without looking at the pool and then I realized (late) that it was something impractical.

I would have easily avoided it with a little prior glance at how things were.

War is based on scam.

Sprinkled throughout the book (as in the concepts of emptiness and reality) is the essence that the Art of War, applied to business or not, is the art of scam.

Or rather, we will not get much as entrepreneurs if we do not master the art of managing perception.

In essence: marketing, marketing and marketing when it comes to applying The Art of War to business.

Sun Tzu, by then, understood the vast power of perception. On the one hand, there is how good we really are, but that is not enough today in a context where our clients are saturated with offers. They don't have time to check their options one by one to see which one is truly the best.

Therefore, the perception that we manage to build of ourselves also counts.

What's more, until they do business with us, see first-hand how we are, etc. it will be the perception that explains so that they judge us and decide on that first purchase.

This is why companies have to make an active effort so that customers perceive that they are the best. They have to communicate clearly that they have advantages that others do not and that they are truly the experts who are worth hiring.

We may be the best option, but the customer does not know that until he has bought from us.

Until that moment one of the main criteria by which it is decided is exactly for the marketing messages we send you.

With these messages and marketing campaigns we transmit the value of our offer.

In reality a message can alter the perception of value

If we deceive and say that our product generates three centimeters of muscle in two days we are creating a perception that many will want to buy. The bad thing is when that perception later will not be true to reality and we will be lost.

The problem is, most businesses use the same old marketing messages as their competitors..

The fate of these entrepreneurs is that, being much better than the 80% of those competitors, they are hardly chosen by potential customers.

When a customer looks at them, what they perceive is that they appear precisely the same as the others.

They do not see anything different for which to select that excellent professional.

When we have a great solution with an enviable competitive advantage, we only have half the job done. The other half is about building a proper perception and displaying it in the eyes of the customer..

A defensive position in Marketing leads to nothing. If we wait for customers to come to us, they are certainly going to be intercepted halfway by another competitor, who has come out and gone on the offensive.

In addition, one thing is very important regarding the use of perception, so as not to call ourselves a scam.

Sun Tzu never says perception is enough to win a battle.

The battle is won by hitting the weak point (main factors of purchase by the customer) with our best blow (competitive advantage that fits in the previous factor) and doing it like a lightning bolt.

Concealing a weakness so that it is not seen too much, or altering the perception of certain things in our favor can be useful and is used when we have no other choice, or when we are on the defensive. But that is not going to fight us.

If we build the perception that we are a rock and in fact we are made of paper, we will fail when we strike and then the consequences will be disastrous.

Move when it is advantageous and create changes in the situation by dispersing and concentrating your forces. When you go into campaign, be fast as the wind; making normal marches, majestic as the forest; in raids and looting, fierce as fire; when you stop, steady like the mountains. If you hide, be as unfathomable as things beyond the clouds; in motion, it falls like lightning. To loot a region, scatter your forces. When you conquer a territory, defend the strategic points.

Consider the situation before making any move. He who masters the artifice of fun will be victorious. This is the art of maneuvering.

Summary of the philosophy of War art applied to the company

We have already seen The Art of War applied to the company and business. Let's summarize the key points to be very clear.

• Always plan. Not in the sense of dying planning and not executing anything, but whoever arrives on the battlefield blindly, does not know the enemy and does not know his own strengths, has lost before starting.
• The most important thing is the people and their value for the position in which we put them. They will make a difference. The way to use them is to place the stars in the right positions and have them perform the "offensive" maneuvers. In other words, the activities aimed at obtaining crucial objectives for the activity.
• Once with the right people one must dedicate himself to mastering the technique of the position in which he is. If it is in sales, to be the best in sales and if it is leading a team, dedicate yourself to being the best in directing and motivating people. Apparently real stars will naturally tend to do this and become the best in your position.
• As the important thing is the people, it is necessary to determine fair compensation and always recognize the work, giving the best prizes. One important thing is that when it comes to motivating and rewarding money is not always the best incentive. A combination of accreditation of work, getting an activity that is challenging, plus the combination with a fair monetary reward, is the best motivator in every study and verification that has been done.
• The way to win is to always be in an offensive position setting the tone and having the proposal. Always proactive, completely never be reactive unless that is irreparable beyond the typical excuses.
• Devote yourself to being a master in whatever you do. Because to win a battle (or get an objective) you always have to "maneuver to your advantage." Who can maneuver the right way in a changing environment like business? The one who is an expert in what is done. With such mastery he will be able to know how to hit weak points and shield strong points in which we are invulnerable.
• The requirement is to have REAL competitive advantages. In other words, a unique selling proposition at key points that motivate a customer to buy.
• Use perception to our advantage, in other words, Marketing. Sun Tzu speaks of emptiness (perception of what is) and reality (what is truly there). Sun Tzu already advocated how important the "scam" was, in other words, to make the other perceive what we want them to perceive.

In this circumstance, the direct scam is the worst route towards having to close our proposal, but in today's world it is necessary to understand that not only must be, but also must appear.

And that's what Marketing takes care of, which must be at the forefront and with abundant resources.

Now we know The Art of War applied to business. It is time to put it into practice.