How Sun Tzu Made All Leaders Redundant

My Teacher Sun Tzu Made All Leaders Redundant

Sun Tzu 孙子 (or Sūn Zǐ in pinyin) was a 500 BC Chinese general, military strategist, and author of The Art of War 孙子兵法, an immensely influential ancient Chinese book on military strategy. Many great leaders like Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan study his work and became legendary leaders. Many corporate leaders paid thousands of dollars to attend courses to learn Sun Zi's secrets.

We at Asia Trainers believe that you too can learn this master's secret with just three hundred dollars. This is because we take the key essence and compile them into a 4-hour course that will leave you with just enough materials to lead your team to greater heights. Since October 2010, we have trained over 373 leaders coming from countries including Hong Kong, Japan, Myanmar and even China.  The next run of Leadership with Sun Zi is on 5 Sep 2013 Thur. 9 am to 1 pm. Limited seats are available, click here or call Priya at 6225-1784 to register.  

The most valuable lesson out of his 13 chapter of 5,000 words must be found in the 3rd chapter: Win Without Fighting.  

As translated from "The Art of War": Generally, in war the best thing is to take the enemy's state whole and intact; to ruin it is inferior to this. To capture the enemy's entire army is better than to destroy it. Hence, to win on hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill.

To subdue the enemy without fighting is the supreme's excellence.  In short, win without fighting.

How does it apply to your leadership?

• "Enemy" here refers to not your enemy but your team that you're leading.
• "Take the enemy's state whole and intact" means you must lead your team wholly withnot just their bodies, but also their minds, hearts and spirits. 
• Never destroy your team's bodies, minds, hearts and spirits. So you cannot over-work them for you'll be destroying their bodies and minds. You also cannot break their hearts by not delivering on your promises and make them give up on you. Finally, you may destroy their spirits when you unknowingly make them a fool in front of others.
• To win without fighting in leadership is to lead without your team knowing that you're leading them. A leader is at his best when people barely knows he exists, when the work is done, the team will say: we did it ourselves. This is because the leader has empowered the team so much and they have become so competent that they are mini leaders themselves, thus the leader is leading without actually leading them.  This must be the highest form of leadership. Lead without Leading.