Ricky’s Online Business Blog

It was still 200 meters away from the shore.  I was exhausted and was drained of all energy. But no choice, I had to keep moving my arms and legs.  Alas! What had made me claim I could swim?

It was a few months ago when I joined a camp where the participants were thrown into the open sea and had to swim 350 meters back to the beach.  Everyone was clothed in life jacket and asked to move in a group.

There were three categories of us. The first category were those who didn’t know how to swim.  Blessed were them because they didn’t have to swim.  They had helpers to help them drift forward.

The second category were those who knew how to swim.  They not only needed to swim for themselves, but also gave a helping hand to non-swimmers to pull them towards the destination.

But the third category were those who didn’t really know how to swim well, but claimed they could swim.  They not only had to struggle their own way to the beach, they were supposed to help others too!

Guess which category I belonged to?  Perhaps I was one of its kind in this category

So I felt extremely tired, but it was still a long way in front. I couldn’t stop swimming to rest because we were supposed to swim together.  I looked at those swimming in front of me and knew how it felt to be left behind.  I looked at the beach far in front and realized I was the most desperate person in the worlds.

But I had no choice but kept telling myself, “Don’t give up. Keep on swimming. You can do it.”

I did it.  I swam to the shore and we completed the mission.  I felt thankful I had not given up.  I did the right thing to keep on swimming!

Recently my team made a presentation on SWOT matrix, an analytical tool to generate strategies for a company by matching among its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

To make it more interesting and applicable, we related the presentation to The Art of War (孫子兵法) authored by ancient strategist in China called Sun Tzu (孫子).  Here are a few quotes taken from the book of wisdom in warfare to apply to the business world.

未戰而廟算勝者，得算多也

Translation – The general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought.

Explanation – Those companies and individuals who win in the business world make much calculation, planning and deliberations on their strategy and plans.  Those who plan less have lower chance of success, much less those who don’t plan anything at all!

知彼知己，勝乃不殆

Translation – If you know the enemy and know yourself, your victory will not stand in doubt.

Explanation – Success comes first from knowing our own business well, including its strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of the competitors.  Understanding this does not guarantee success, but it gives us foreknowledge into our chance of success.

知天知地，勝乃可全

Translation – If you know Heaven and know Earth, you may make your victory complete.

Explanation – Knowing our self and the competitors is not enough.  The environments in terms of opportunities and threats need to be understood too.  We can be good, but if the timing is not right, our effort will be in vain.

戰勢不過奇正，奇正之變，不可勝窮也

Translation – In battle, there are not more than two methods of attack – the direct and the indirect; yet these two in combination give rise to an endless series of maneuvers.

Explanation – There are only two kinds of attack, namely normal and ordinary one (direct) and the unusual and extraordinary one (indirect).  But the combination of both opens door to endless permutations of strategies we can take.

兵貴勝，不貴久

Translation – In war, then, let your great object be victory, not lengthy campaigns.

Explanation – There is no use to analyze and over-analyze the situation until we get into analysis paralysis.  We must act with our gut and intuition, despite incomplete information, after reasonable amount of analysis has be done.  The objective of a business war is in the victory, not prolonging the process.

Do you see how The Art of War may apply to your business or life situation too?