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| Author Jason Armstrong with Himeji Castle in the background. |
Sun Tzu’s “Art of War” is considered to provide the most profound lessons for
leadership, and victory in East or the West. Today its principles are applied to
business all over the world. This classic body of work came from life and death
scenarios, which evolved from empire, trade and political struggles. Obviously
today’s corporate world does not induce anywhere near as strong a mechanism for
change, or success, as the consequences of failure in business are far less than
warfare. Nonetheless, the trickle down lessons from the “Art of War” are
definitely applicable to any organized effort, project or business. Although
Chinese in origin, the “Art of War” and lessons from Zen were adopted by
Japanese groups such as the Samurai and Corporate Japan for clarity of mind,
decision making and strategy.
Past and Present: Modern Asia is now very different from its past. The
question is: how much do today’s managers in an environment like Japan apply
these principles? In short, the answer is that some components of the “Art of
War” are easily spotted broadly across Japanese business culture and other
attributes of the text are rare. Looking at specific companies, or managers, one
will sometimes see avid followers of the principles of the “Art of War”, and
sometimes very little application at all. The roots of almost any good strategic
plan can be found in the text the “Art of War” so it’s implementation is also
present in Western business (even if it not derived by someone who directly
studied the text).
Alliances: Using alliances is a key strategic component of the “Art of War”.
This translates to partnering in the business world. Business partnering models
and strategies based on the “Art of War” are outlined in detail in a
downloadable video series by Applied Zen (www.AppliedZen.com). This article will
not go into the details of such strategies but rather relate to their presence
in Japanese business today and make comparisons to Western business. The
importance of partnering and relationships is apparent to anyone who has done
business in Japan. While these may not always portrait the efficiency of Sun
Tzu’s “Art of War” strategies, partnering in Japan has permeated almost every
aspect of Japanese business to an extreme. Over the years it has evolved to a
degree of “middle men” involvement not seen in the West. The benefits, and
hindrances, of such a system are often discussed by those doing business in
Japan. Strategic partnering if carried out correctly should optimize sales,
marketing, reduce operational requirements and create synergies that a company
who approaches end point sales cannot. From Sun Tzu’s teachings such partnering
strategies should also be put into product development (both the item itself and
the marketing of it) as a process – not an after thought once the product is
finished. Again, broadly speaking, Japan is rich with examples of this type of
implementation.
Leadership and Decisions: The “Art of War” offers many lessons on leadership
and people management. After all, if you can create a situation where people are
willing to follow you into battle and die, there must be valuable motivation and
leadership practices in place. Nowadays in Japan, one can see good examples of
team co-operation and communication, and yet also some very bad examples. For
example, Japan is a group-oriented society and usually makes decisions on that
basis. Therefore, typically more staff are consulted and informed about
decisions and ideas while they are in the making. However, this draws out the
decision process. In comparison, Western companies often have decisions made
only by upper management and then the ruling is put into the company as policy.
In this Western approach, it is common for staff to learn about the policy only
after it is announced. (the net result is often a long time before staff
“buy-in” and policy becomes practice). The interesting thing about these two
different approaches is that the time spent from contemplating a new idea to
company implementation is very similar in both cultures, despite the generally
faster decision making that occurs in the West. When one considers staff
compliance and conflict avoidance, the Japanese way is better in that more staff
are involved in the communication before policy is induced.
Communication: On the other side of staff communication, the Japanese
environment does not encourage pro-activity like Western organizations. In fact,
to suggest radical alternatives is often considered “rocking the boat” and is
not a good career move inside Japanese businesses. In comparison the “Art of
War” clearly identifies the need for taking calculated risks to gain
intelligence as well as potentially gain ground. In the 1990’s Stephen Covey’s
name became famous through the publication of the “The 7 Habits of Highly
Effective People”. As many know the “7 habits” are not a group of new concepts
but age old approaches to success. They are simply represented in a way that can
be clearly applied to modern day personal and corporate development. The same
precepts are taught in a number of ancient development and achievement, arts
such as: Zen (which is not a religion, but a path for self discovery and
growth), the “Art of War” by Sun Tzu, and the Tao de Ching (the “book of
change”). Covey’s first “habit” is pro-activity. This is based on recognizing,
just as Sun Tzu did, that not taking some calculated short-term risks due to
fear of action, is the sure way to long-term failure. In contrast Japanese
business behavior is generally very risk adverse. On the flip side, Sun Tsu’s
“Art of War” stresses the importance of defense and conservative advancement. It
is the balancing of risk and conservative defense that must be strategically
planned to ensure victory.
Synergize: The “Art of War” by Sun Tzu, is often superficially viewed as an
aggressive approach to victory. However, it is essentially a master text on
“Conflict Management” and “Win-Win” scenarios. Again the modern day programs
such as Covey’s “7 habits” possess such precepts (“Win-Win”, habit 4 of Stephen
Covey and “Synergize”, habit 6). Japanese models of partnering and distribution
encompass these ideas.
S.W.O.T: Zen, the “Art of War”, and the book of change (Tao de Ching) are all
about self-analysis and understanding. They allow one to understand yourself and
your organization’s: strengths and weaknesses, and therefore how to synergize
with others to achieve positive outcomes. These things have a direct correlation
to Western company S.W.O.T review (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and
threats). A better understanding of how one can approach self and competitor
analysis from an “Art of War” business perspective can be found at
www.AppliedZen.com. Generally, in comparing the authors dealings with Japanese
workers and companies, to many Western organizations, it seems that Japan places
more attention on understanding one’s own, and competitor’s, position before
acting. Again this relates to setting out a strategic path before embarking on a
journey rather than exploring options as you go. Again reflecting on Japanese
actions with regard to modern Western corporate trainers, Stephen Covey has
said, “begin with the end in mind” (Habit 2 of “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective
People).
Training: Continuing to train employee skills and undergo development both
in-house and outside a company is essential. As the ancient samurai saying says:
“Continually sharpen the sword or it will go blunt!” Generally the Japanese are
quite good about providing thorough in-house training for tasks and sales.
However, compared to many Western companies, outside training to create new
ideas is rare. On the flip side, many Western companies (particularly smaller
ones) are often a bit light with regards to in-house development.
Embracing Change: All the above methods (old and new) are about changing base
behavior, beliefs and approaches. These are core values, and are far more
important than putting band-aids on problems, or approaching things with simply
a behavior change. In regard to the ancient philosophies, they of course must be
interpreted, and applied, using case studies in a context that matches the
modern corporate world. Japan today is a very different place than preached by
its ancient philosophical ideals. Japanese businesses and employees are
generally not as good as the West at embracing, or coping with change – one of
the few things in life which is inevitable. All people and cultures struggle
with change and it is openness to it is the subject of the classic Chinese text
“Tao de Ching”.
Etiquette: Many people at first glance take the strategic approaches of the
“Art of War” to be aggressive. As outlined above Sun Tzu’s work is quite the
opposite - avoiding conflict and aggression is in fact the thesis. Etiquette and
humanity is absolutely built into all issues, and one obvious connection is the
value of partners, networking and not creating enemies. In Japan, the depth of
etiquette is very extreme which again provides a similar link to the “Art of
War” which has evolved over time.
This article only touches the surface of a few of Sun Tzu’s strategies and
lessons. It also eludes to some Japanese behavior in a generalized fashion (in
any culture there are always exceptions). The study of Japanese corporate
behavior relative to such Asian arts such as Zen and the “Art of War” is a
fascinating area of study with lessons that can be applied to doing better
business in the Asian environment, or in the West.
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