Sun Tzu's Art of War

Do you remember a movie called Wall Street that came out in 1987? It stars Michael Douglas, a bad-ass wallstreet broker who takes a young and impressionable Charlie Sheen under his wings to teach him the fine art of cut-throat wallstreet wheeling and dealing. Its a compelling movie with quite a few interesting sub-plots, backstabbing, treachery, betrayals and what-not. My intention is not to review the movie. However, one of the famous quotes in the movie comes from Gordon Gekko (played by Mike Douglas) when he says "I don't throw darts at a board. I bet on sure things. Read Sun-tzu, The Art of War. Every battle is won before it is ever fought."

That's where I first heard of Sun Tzu and his famous work 'The Art of War'. And when I got into Kellogg, I put this on my list of pre-MBA reads along with the likes of 'The world is flat', 'Who moved my cheese?' etc. I've been reading Sun Tzu the past few days, and it is fascinating to say the least. The book, hailed as the greatest book on military strategy, was apparently written sometime around 500 B.C although there are people who argue that. Sun Tzu - a famous general, warlord, mercenary and military strategist all rolled into one - lays down the fundamentals of war in this book. He covers topics like what guarantees victory, what factors to take into consideration before declaring war, when to advance and retreat, how to deal with terrain and weather and make them your friends, and most importantly, how to win a war without a single drop of blood.

The last point is quite interesting, because this is what Gordon Gekko talks about. Sun Tzu says the smartest generals will never be the most famous ones and the famous ones are never the smartest. This is because only those leaders who have won a lot of wars and shed a lot of blood are likely to become famous. However, the smartest leaders win through strategy and deception, without the necessity for a war and without ever stepping on a battlefield. They mislead their enemies, employ spies and misinformation, break their enemies' allies and partnerships and generally demoralize them. When all this is done, the enemy's land is just waiting to be taken without the need for war. This, Sun Tzu says, is the greatest talent of a war general. In an age of mergers, acquisitions and start-ups, his philosophy still holds true today. And there are a lot of people in wallstreet who read and abide by Sun Tzu because his philosophies can be translated to any war-like environment or politics. Imagine if the US had done some background work before simply marching into Iraq. We could have predicted and destroyed various terrorist groups even before these guys ever thought about infighting and civil wars.

Another point that Sun Tzu repeatedly makes is this - "Be swift, whether in attack or defence". He goes on to add "There has never been a country that has benefited from a protracted war". How true and prescient this sounds, especially in today's context! The protracted Iraq war has drained the US resources and resolve and has destroyed Iraq as well as American morale and economy. This is exactly what Sun Tzu predicted 2500 years ago.

The book is well-written with a lot of interesting examples and anecdotes from ancient Chinese history. China, in those times, was a mess. There were a few major clans who constantly kept warring against each other, gaining and losing land repeatedly. War was a constant way of life. It was put on hold only when the peasants had to sow and reap their farms. Summers were too hot and winters were too cold, so they might temporarily take a break. But on most days, you could wander to a nearby paddy field or mountain pass, and witness a couple of clans with their few hundred thousand peasant-soldiers cutting down each others' limbs and heads. Must've been interesting times!

One of the biggest fans of Sun Tzu was none other than Mao Zedong, or Chairman Mao. He led the Red army to victory against the mighty Nationalist Party of China (that was heavily supported and funded by the US at the time). The book takes excerpts from Mao's own book about war strategy, where he has repeatedly referenced 'Art of War' and how he employed Sun Tzu's ideas at different places to gain unlikely victories. The Red Army starts off with nothing more than a bunch of poor, hungry and disillusioned peasants who are ready to fight against the fat and corrupt establishment. The directives and funding comes from Moscow along with Leninist ideas. Mao rises quickly in the Red Army through his impressive tactics. He improves the morale of his soldiers, and forces the establishment to fight on his own terrain where he quickly demolishes them. He employs a lot of Sun Tzu tricks like misinformation, strategy and hitting weak enemy spots in quick bursts.

Sun Tzu himself seems to have been a freelance military strategy consultant. And ruthless to boot. One episode from the book stands out. A particular king invites Sun Tzu to his palace and asks him to demonstrate an army marching strategy. The king brings out his harem of mistresses to help with the demonstration. Sun Tzu splits the women into 2 groups. He picks two of the king's favorite women to head these groups. Then he issues them a series of instructions on how to follow his marching orders. When he starts the demo and issues his marching orders, the women all start looking at each other and giggling. Undaunted, Sun Tzu admits loudly that if the army does not understand the general's command, it is the general's fault and goes on to repeat his instructions painstakingly. When he starts the demo the second time and shouts out his orders, the women again look at each other and giggle. This time, Sun Tzu declares that if the army does not understand orders the second time, it is time to replace the group leaders. He orders the beheading of the 2 leaders - the king's favorite mistresses. The king, who was watching this demonstration from his balcony, is psyched and comes and pleads with Sun not to harm his girls. Sun Tzu calls him 'weak' in his face and goes ahead with the beheading. He replaces them with two other women. And guess what? This time when he issues his marching orders, there is not a pip or a wrong step from the women. That's the kind of man Sun Tzu was.

Ultimately, what matters is his approach to war. Sun Tzu says "war is a serious matter and should be approached as such". And that "you should know thyself and thy enemies before you step onto a battlefield". These might sound trivial or redundant. But history is full of examples of botched military operations and ill-timed strategies. Kudos to Sun Tzu for figuring all this out before anyone else. This is not a book that everyone will enjoy. But if you push past some of the tedious stuff, there are some real pearls of wisdome hidden in there.