The Art of War

Cover via Amazon

Lately I've been reading the book The 36 Secret Strategies of the Martial Arts (basically the same 36 principles of the Art of War) and am intrigued by the fact that these principles are being applied time and again in modern day business.

One of the strategies is translated into "Sacrifice the Peach to Secure the Plum".  Applied to business, an example may be that you give up a small market segment to your competitors and in order to secure your position in the more profitable market segment. 

The strategy states that leaders lacking talent may be easily distracted by a limited loss (think of those that fail once and just somehow can't suck it up and get back on their feet again); the right question to ask when you incur a loss is: in what way can the loss be linked to future gain?

Business is War.  Why else would they rank the "winners" on different lists and categories?  YOU are fighting everyday, to secure that new account (from that other sales agent), to get products to market (faster than your competitors), to increase your market share (at your competitor's expense).  Sometimes you just can't play nice (but you always have to play fair, no nasty tricks people!)