10 things Sun Tzu can Teach You about Creative Strategy
Sun Tzu was a Chinese military general and is foremost known as a strategist who authored The Art of War (around 500BC), an ancient book on military strategy. His principles have been used for war by many legendary warriors, including Japanese Samurai Oda Nobunaga and French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. His principles are today also used by many business strategists.
1. “Know thy self, know thy enemy. A thousand battles, a thousand victories.”
If you’ve done your market research well, you’ll soon come to realize that when you know your opponent's position and also your own in the market, then it'll become easy to figure out their tactics. So, know your enemy's strategy once, and beat them a thousand times.
2. “Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.”
You simply can’t trust luck. Think as if luck will never be by your side. Instead, you need to rely on your strategy of attack. Getting into a competition without really knowing what is going on; will result in a most definite lose on your behalf. So do your research well before acting, this is how you win.
3. ”All war is deception”
You should constantly use deception on your opponents. This not meaning that you should play a deceiving game, but it simply applies that when you are weak, you should show your opponents a façade that implies that you are strong. And also the other way around, when you are strong you should ease your opponents by seeming weak, so that when they attack, they will be defeated by a strong force in which was hidden by your part.
4. “Opportunities multiply as they are seized.”
When you’ve found a great opportunity you should implement it, put it to action directly. And then if it is a success, you’ll find tons of other opportunities appearing because of it.
5. “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”
You need to know your vision before you act. A strategy shows you the way to which you should get to your vision. Then after you have set out the strategy, the “how tos” will come to you.
6. “All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.”
If you have a great strategy, your work will go great if you implement it. This will make people try to copy your work, but they will not be successful if they don’t understand your strategy. Therefore it is widely crucial that you stay unique, and offer things that are difficult to copy.
7. “Hence that general is skillful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skillful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack.”
You can't be too predictable. Have the same strategy, but differ your tactics. Avoid what is in your opponent's eyes expected from you.
8. “If fighting is sure to result in victory, then you must fight, even though the ruler forbid it; if fighting will not result is victory, then you must not fight, even at the ruler's bidding.”
Don’t bend for authority, do what the situation requires. Listen to the problem, don't just do what you're told, that's hardly the way of an innovator.
9. “In peace prepare for war, in war prepare for peace. The art of war is of vital importance to the state. It is matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence under no circumstances can it be neglected.”
Always be aware of your surrounding and the people that want to take your place. At times like these, it’s rather normal to forget the underdogs that are dissecting every movement you make.
10. “You have to believe in yourself.”
If you don’t believe in what you do, and your own abilities, then how do you expect others to trust you. Everything begins with you, first you believe in yourself, take responsibility for yourself and then you can start taking responsibility for others.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure You Subscribe 
Related Posts
-
Do You Know How to Analyze a Market?
-
10 things Miyamoto Musashi can Teach You about Creative Strategy
-
10 things Napoleon Bonaparte can Teach You about Creative Strategy
