Idea 48 - War & Strategy
The idea that business could be warfare by another name took hold of many
business leaders during the 1980s.
It was not that they wanted to destroy the
enemy - though some of them undoubtedly did - but that they believed they
should strategize like successful generals.
Though
it's no longer fashionable to admit it, many leaders of big businesses have
felt an affinity with famous generals. They recognize them as the doers of
their time, in an age when 'trade' was not a respectable calling. Born later,
the kind of men who rose to generalship might well have opted for industry
instead. They would have found themselves doing much the same job, planning,
organizing resources and motivating large groups of people to reach a defined
objective.
Jack
Welch, General Electric's reforming ex-CEO, made no secret of his admiration
for Carl von Clausewitz, whose writings were said to have 'distilled Napoleon
into theory'. He was the Prussian chief-of-staff at Waterloo, and his On War
was published posthumously in 1832.
'Strategy
forms the plan of the war', Clausewitz wrote, but acknowledged the truth that
plans may have to change. So strategy had to go 'with the army to the field in
order to arrange particulars on the spot' he added. 'Strategy can never take
its hand from the work for a moment.'
As
the quote suggests, Clausewitz's approach to strategy was descriptive rather
than prescriptive, which appeals to Welch. Welch once quoted from a letter
written by one of his managers, saying it captured much of his own thinking
about strategic planning: 'Clausewitz summed up what it had all been about . .
. Men could not reduce strategy to a formula. Detailed planning necessarily
failed, due to the inevitable frictions encountered: chance events,
imperfections in execution, and the independent will of the opposition.
Instead, the human elements were paramount: leadership, morale, and the almost
instinctive savvy of the best generals. Strategy was not a lengthy action plan.
It was the evolution of a central idea through continually changing
circumstances.'
Boston
Consulting Group was sufficiently intrigued by Clausewitz to have published a
book on him. It was not a Prussian soldier, however, but a Chinese general that
best captured the imaginations of late 20th century Western bosses. Beleaguered
as they were under the onslaught (more military language) of Japanese imports,
they looked East for clues on how to fight back. Japanese literature didn't
have much on record, but China offered the extraordinary Art of War by Sun Tzu.
He was a highly successful general during the later Chou dynasty, and his book
- if he wrote it, which is unclear - dates from around 500 BC, when
philosophers Confucius and Lao Tzu were both alive.
Aphorism heaven Long admired by Western soldiers, the work is an examination
of strategy,
teeming
with aphorism and insight for even the casual reader. In 13 chapters, Sun Tzu
takes us through strategic planning and development, manoeuvring, spontaneity
in the field, dealing with confrontation itself and, finally, the use of
intelligence. Strategy is the 'Great Work' of the organization, he insists, and
its study cannot be neglected. It has five working
fundamentals:
·
Tao - the feeling of shared ideals among the group that makes
them not fear danger.
·
Nature - day, night, hot, cold and the passage of time.
·
Situation - near, far, obstructed or easy and the chances of
life or death.
·
Leadership - intelligence, credibility, humanity, courage and
discipline.
·
Art - flexibility.
Sun
Tzu acknowledges that war is not independent of politics and economics. indeed,
the five most decisive elements for war are politics, timeliness, favourable
geographical location, commanders and law - and politics is the most important.
Striking a contemporary chord is his belief that battles should be won with the
least cost. The best way to win is through political strategy. He is also
insistent that knowledge of the enemy's strengths is at least important as
knowledge of your own - use spies.
Lessons
for managers? The appearance of the Art of War as a CEO primer has triggered
many commentaries and 'Management lessons from .. .' books - at least 50, by
one reckoning. One is Mark McNeilly's Sun Tzu and the Art of Business, in which
McNeilly extracts from the work
six
strategic principles for managers.
·
Capture your market without destroying it. Head-on
confrontation should be avoided if at all possible. Price wars draw the
quickest and most aggressive responses from competitors, and leave everyone
drained of profits.
'Generally
in war, the best policy is to take a state intact; to ruin it is inferior to
this ... For to win 100 victories in
100 battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is
the acme of skill. '
·
Avoid your competitor's strength and attack their weakness.
'An
army may be likened to water, for just as flowing water avoids the heights and
hastens to the lowlands, so an army avoids strength and strikes weakness.'
·
Use foreknowledge and deception to maximize the power of
business intelligence.
'Know
the enemy and know yourself. In a hundred battles you will never be in peril.'
·
Use speed and preparation to overcome the competition
swiftly. Speed is not haste - it requires much preparation
'To
rely on rustics and not prepare is the greatest of crimes. To be prepared
beforehand for any contingency is the greatest of virtues.'
·
Use alliances and strategic control points to 'shape' your
competitors and make them conform to your will. .
'Those
skilled in war bring the enemy to the field of battle and are not brought there
by him.'
·
Develop your character as a leader to maximize the potential
of your employees.
'When
one treats people with benevolence, justice and righteousness, and reposes
confidence in them, the army will be united in mind and all will be happy to
serve their leaders. '
While
Sun Tzu continues to have a following, generals are being put out to grass as
strategic role models and their places taken by, among others, sports teams.
Comments