Posts Tagged Sun-Tzu
Sun-Tzu Sunday, August 30, 2009
Posted by enrique s in Leadership on August 30th, 2009
Photo by AmpamukA (Busy in ICU for 1 month)
Here’s this week’s update for Sun-Tzu Sunday. Sun-Tzu was a military strategist of ancient China. Every Sunday this summer, I’ve presented an excerpt from his treatise The Art of War. This week’s passage is the series finale, and comes from the seventh chapter entitled The Fray.
The soldier’s spirit
Is keenest
In the morning;
By noon
It has dulled;
By evening
He has begun
To think of home.
Boy, Sun-Tzu hit it right on the head with that one. I’m way more productive in the morning. It coincides with my scripted to-do list, as I hit the ground running. The early bird gets the worm. Late in the day, I’ve usually had enough, and I begin planning out the next day.
How about you? Are you more productive in the morning, or are you a strong finisher?
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Sun-Tzu Sunday, August 9, 2009 bfick Here's this week's update for Sun-Tzu Sunday. Sun-Tzu was a military strategist of ancient China. Each week, I present an excerpt from his treatise The Art of War. This week's entry comes from the second chapter, entitled The Waging of War: In War, Victory should be Swift....... -
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Sun-Tzu Sunday, August 23, 2009
Posted by enrique s in Leadership, Money on August 23rd, 2009
Photo by nuomi
Here’s this week’s update for Sun-Tzu Sunday. Sun-Tzu was a military strategist of ancient China. Every Sunday this summer, I’m presenting an excerpt from his treatise The Art of War. This week’s passage comes from the fifth chapter entitled Potential Energy.
Relying on the energy,
He sends his men into battle
Like a man
Rolling logs or boulders.
By their nature,
On level ground
Logs and boulders
Stay still;
On steep ground
They move;
Square, they halt;
Round, they roll.
Skillfully deployed soldiers
Are like round boulders
Rolling down
A mighty mountainside.
At first glance, the passage would appear to be related to the utilization of your employees. You want to fit their skills to the tasks you assign them. But it can also be applied to investing. Each dollar can be viewed as a “soldier”, sent out by you to capture other soldiers. You just need to match them up to where they’ll do the most good. In the investment world, that means doing your research, and investing thoughtfully.
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Sun-Tzu Sunday, August 16, 2009
Posted by enrique s in Leadership on August 16th, 2009
Photo by Helgas Lobster Stew
Here’s this week’s update for Sun-Tzu Sunday. Sun-Tzu was a military strategist of ancient China. Every Sunday this summer, I’m presenting an excerpt from his treatise The Art of War. This week’s entry comes from the eleventh chapter, entitled The Nine Kinds of Ground. This passage is part of the chapter dealing with troops in desperate straits, but I think it applies to modern-day workers:
They are alert
Without needing
Discipline;
They act
Without needing
Instructions;
They are devoted
Without needing
A compact;
They are loyal
Without needing
Orders.
These seem to be the traits of a loyal, motivated, mature individual. Funny, but I always seem to work better when I’m given more freedom. In other words, I don’t need someone looking over my shoulder, telling me what to do every minute. I can police myself. Treat me fairly, and I’ll go through a wall for you. I think that I would have liked serving for Sun-Tzu.
Are you like one of Sun-Tzu’s soldiers?
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Sun-Tzu Sunday, August 9, 2009
Posted by enrique s in Leadership on August 9th, 2009
Here’s this week’s update for Sun-Tzu Sunday. Sun-Tzu was a military strategist of ancient China. Each week, I present an excerpt from his treatise The Art of War. This week’s entry comes from the second chapter, entitled The Waging of War:
In War,
Victory should be
Swift.
If victory is slow,
Men tire,
Morale sags.
Sieges
Exhaust strength;
Protracted campaigns
Strain the public treasury.
If men are tired,
Morale low,
Strength exhausted,
Treasure spent;
Then the feudal lords
Will exploit the disarray
And attack.
This even the wisest
Will be powerless
To mend.
I have heard that in war
Haste can be
Folly
But have never seen
Delay that was
Wise.
No nation has ever benefited
From a protracted war.
I’m not going to try to tie this one to modern business. Wow, sure sounds like the war in Iraq though, doesn’t it? What was the estimated cost of fielding our troops in Iraq, about $390,000 for one year for each soldier? Talk about a strain on the public treasury.
Check in next Sunday for another update.
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Sun-Tzu Sunday, August 2, 2009
Posted by enrique s in Leadership on August 2nd, 2009
Here’s this week’s update for Sun-Tzu Sunday. Sun-Tzu was a military strategist of ancient China. Each week, I present an excerpt from his treatise The Art of War. This week’s entry comes from the first chapter, entitled Making Plans:
Master Sun Said:
War is
A grave affair of state;
It is a place
Of life and death,
A road
To survival and extinction,
A matter
To be pondered carefully.
There are Five Fundamentals
For this deliberation,
For the making of comparisons
And the assessing of conditions:
The Way,
Heaven,
Earth,
Command,
Discipline.
The Way
Causes men
To be of one mind
With their rulers,
To live or die with them,
And to never waver.
(This would coincide with a corporation’s mission statement, a shared set of beliefs to which everyone in the company should ascribe.)
Heaven is
Yin and Yang,
Cold and hot,
The cycle of seasons.
(This would seem to imply that it’s external, so this could be the economy in general.)
Earth is
Height and depth,
Distance and proximity,
Ease and danger,
Open and confined ground,
Life and death.
(This seems to be the specific market in which the company does business.)
Command is
Wisdom,
Integrity,
Compassion,
Courage,
Severity.
(This refers to the various traits of good management. I was a little surprised to see compassion listed by a military man. Sun-Tzu was clearly ahead of his time.)
Discipline is
Organization,
Chain of command,
Control of expenditure.
(To me, discipline = following procedures and staying under budget. Hmm, a frugal leader.)
Every commander is aware
Of these
Five Fundamentals.
He who grasps them
Wins;
He who fails to grasp them
Loses.
I guess we should get a grasp on these fundamentals, lest we lose.
Check in next Sunday for another installment of Sun-Tzu Sunday.
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Sun-Tzu Sunday, July 26, 2009
Posted by enrique s in Leadership on July 26th, 2009
I decided to start a new feature for the summer on the Corporate Barbarian Blog: Sun-Tzu Sunday (can a Machiavelli Monday be far behind?). Sun-Tzu was a military strategist of ancient China. Each week, I’ll present an excerpt from his treatise The Art of War. This week’s entry comes from the eighth chapter, entitled The Nine Changes:
There are Five Pitfalls
For a general:
Recklessness,
Leading to
Destruction;
Cowardice,
Leading to
Capture;
A hot temper,
Prone to
Provocation;
A delicacy of honor,
Tending to
Shame;
A concern for his men,
Leading to
Trouble.
Substitute “manager” or “leader” for “general”, and you can apply this to the modern corporation. Let’s take a look at each pitfall:
Recklessness - I’ve known lots of reckless leaders, who’ve gone off half-cocked with sketchy information to back up their ideas. I had one boss who literally would take a report from my hand and present it without even reading it. He had his head handed to him several times.
Cowardice - I had another director who was afraid to speak up to his superiors. He led them to believe that everything was going well financially, because he didn’t want to admit his mistakes. Rather than taking his lumps for the betterment of the team, he covered up the problem until it was too late to make a recovery. He was eventually asked to leave.
A Hot Temper - I spoke about “Ivan” the Engineering Director in a previous post. People may feared him, but this hampered his relationship with his employees. They were afraid to bring him bad news, and blew smoke up his butt to keep him happy. Ivan would get mad at the drop of a hat, and a vein would bulge from his forehead. My boss joked that if we could only get him angry enough, he would burst that vein…but no such luck. If he could have controlled his temper, he would have been a more effective leader.
A Delicacy of Honor - I had another coworker who, after receiving a promotion, wanted to remain “one of the guys”. This may work in some cases, but we had another guy in the department who took advantage of Mr. Softy. The guy who took advantage walked all over our new boss, disappearing during the afternoons and shirking his responsibilities. It really hurt the morale of the rest of the department when we saw what he was getting away with, and the reputation of the boss suffered as well.
A Concern for his men - Facing cuts to the defense budget in the early 1990’s (my how some things never change), my company at the time was preparing to downsize. There was a budget call, and we had to project our manpower requirements for the next 18 months. When we compared the requirements to the existing staff, the results weren’t pretty. Layoffs had to be made if the company was to survive. One manager held on to his people, even as it was apparent that several of them had no work to do. His inability to pull the trigger on the layoffs might have given his people a few months of extra paychecks, but he burned up valuable budget in the process. If he would have taken decisive action, and made the hard choices, he wouldn’t have put the company into a deeper hole.
Have you been faced with these five pitfalls in your career? How did you respond to them?
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Corporate Barbarian Links: Backbreaking Work Edition
Posted by enrique s in Career, Frugality, Links, Money, Organizing, lifehack, passive income on July 25th, 2009
There’s nothing like a little hard physical labor to make me appreciate my desk job. I spent much of last weekend resetting the concrete pavers around my pool. Let’s just say that my back ain’t what it used to be. It gives me a new appreciation for what bricklayers put up with on a daily basis.
Here are the best posts that I read this past week:
Beks at Blogging Away Debt shamelessly saved money on her vacation. I wish that was the case for me. The Bahamas was expensive.
Jim at Bargaineering explains what tax lots are. He dispels conventional wisdom with one of his tips.
Lazy Man and Money talks about how the city of Oakland wants to tax medical marijuana. They must be getting desperate in California for tax revenue.
Matt from Debt Free Adventure has a guest post at My Two Dollars that outlines the benefits of frugal living. One of the benefits is increased joy.
Free Money Finance has a series about the jobs that he’s held. His latest entry deals with working for a maniac. I can sympathize.
The Weakonomist at Weakonomics discusses why expensive beer is selling more than cheap beer. I’ve always stuck to my Samuel Adams Lager.
Trent at The Simple Dollar offers ten unusual ways to improve your appearance of confidence. Check out the eye color trick.
J.D. at Get Rich Slowly offers a free affairs organizer that was created by one of his readers, Erik. Check it out.
Blunt Money talks about creating a time budget. I used to neglect planning my time, too.
Jeff at the Stretchy Dollar has a guest post at Consumerism Commentary that cautions us to safeguard our income. I’m also interested in building multiple income streams.
That’s all for today. Tune in tomorrow for the premiere of Sun-Tzu Sunday!
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