This famous treatise by Sun Tzu (translated by Samuel B. Griffith) on military policy and operations was written over 2,000 years ago but contains many relevant aphorisms:
The idea that a war is won before the first blows of a battle sums up the importance of planning and preparation, virtues which can translate to success in any venture. Assessing oneself and the enemy, then matching one’s strength against another’s weakness reminds me of tennis. Espionage, deception, misdirection, feigning incapacity, and fueling an enemy’s arrogance reminds me of Bill Bellichick.
Here are my seven key points of the Art of War:
1. “Know your enemy and know yourself, in a hundred battles, you will never be in peril.”
2. “All warfare is based on deception… When capable, feign incapacity. When active, feign inactivity. When near, make it appear that you are far away; when far away, that you are near. Offer the enemy bait to lure him; feign disorder and strike him. Anger his general and confuse him. Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance. When he is united, divide him.”
3. “He created cleavages between sovereign and minister, superiors and inferiors, commanders and subordinates. His spies and agents were active everywhere, gathering information, sowing dissension, and nurturing subversion. The enemy was isolated and demoralized; his will to resist broken. Thus without battle his army was conquered, his cities taken and his state overthrown.”
“An army without secret agents is exactly like a man without eyes or ears.”
(1) Doubled - It is essential to seek out enemy agents who have come to conduct espionage against you and to bribe them to serve you.”
(2) Inside - “enemy officials.”
(3) Native - “enemy’s country people.”
“The double agent knows those of his own countrymen who are covetous as well as those officials who have been remiss in office.”
(4) Living - “Men who are clever, talented, wise and able to gain access to those of the enemy who are intimate with the sovereign members of the nobility.”
(5) Expendable - “those of our own spies who are deliberately given fabricated information.”
4. For success, master the five factors:
(1) moral influence- “that which causes people to be in harmony with their leaders, so they will accompany them in life and unto death without fear of mortal peril.”
(2) weather- “the effects of Winter’s cold and summer’s heat.”
(3) terrain- “whether the ground is traversed with ease or difficulty, whether it is open or constricted.”
(4) command- “If wise (1), a commander is able to recognize changing ircumstances and to act expediently. If sincere (2), his men will have no doubt of the certainty of rewards and punishments. If humane (3), he loves mankind, sympathizes with others, and appreciates their industry and toil. If courageous (4), he gains victory by seizing opportunity without hesitation. If strict (5), his troops are disciplined because they are in awe of him and are afraid of punishment.”
(5) doctrine- “organization, control, assignment of appropriate ranks to officers, regulation of supply routes, and the provision of principal items used by the army.”
5. “For there has never been a protracted war from which a country has benefited.” Long wars drain morale and funds. Brilliant strategy is never protracted.
6. “To win victory is easy; to preserve it’s fruits, difficult. And therefore it is said that when All-under-Heaven is at war, one who gains five victories suffers calamity, one who gains four is exhausted; one who gains three becomes Lord Protector; one who gains two, a King; one who gains one, the Emperor. Thus he who by countless victories has gained empire is unique, while those who have perished thereby are many.”
7. “Under certain conditions one yields a city, sacrifices a portion of his force, or gives up ground in order to gain a more valuable objective. Such yielding therefore masks a deeper purpose, and is but another aspect of the intellectual pliancy which distinguishes the expert in war.”
“Therefore, when I have won a victory I do not repeat my tactics but respond to circumstances in an infinite variety of ways. Now 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. And as water shapes its flow in accordance with the ground, so an army manages its victory in accordance with the situation of the enemy. And as water has no constant form, there are no constant conditions.”
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