The Art of War for Women – Book Review
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Introduction
This book is a reiteration of Sun Tzus philosophy from the ancient book The Art of War which is one of the oldest and most successful books on military strategy. It influenced eastern military thinking and emphasized the most efficient way of gaining victory with the least amount of conflict. The original text is purposely made obscure and difficult to understand, so that Sun Tzu remained employed, as the king would need him for interpretation. Although it has a mixture of profound philosophy and detailed tactical prescriptions that are great for battles about 2500 years ago, the book is also useful today. The teaching of Sun Tzu is powerful: it will not only instruct us, but also reveal where we stand and how to approach a problem, how to deal with adversity, and how to handle the whims of fate.
The author, Chin-Ning Chu, perfectly applied Sun Tzus theory to integrate our styles and personal philosophy into every action we take. She provided examples, references, and anecdotes that were not available in the original book The Art of War. This book is written particularly for women because women have the ability to negotiate and they are able to be modest and understand that silence is golden. This book will guide us to use the full spectrum of the strategies that are contained in Sun Tzus The Art of War with a holistic approach to winning.
This book contains 13 chapters and our team covered chapter 1 through 6.
Book Summary
Chapter 1
The strategies in The Art of War are based on Taoism. Taoisms main goal is “To be in harmony with the Universe, with Tao.” Sun Tzu applied war strategies using Taoist principles, and came up with The Art of War based on being In Harmony with The Tao. The success of any strategy depends on how it is supported by the Tao (Fox, 2009).
The first chapter begins with 計 (JI) which means laying plans, plotting, predicting, comparing, and analyzing. All these elements are part of prewar strategy, which contains the core message that includes all the principles in the remaining chapters. There are five elements that govern success and must be understood in the planning stages of any action. They are: (1) Tao (道) – Moral influence, righteousness: how to make winning decisions. (2) Tien (天) – Heaven or timing: from universal to personal timing. (3) Ti (地) – Earth or terrain or resources: turn your liabilities into assets. (4) Jian (將) – Leadership: a state of mind, qualities and abilities of the general. (5) Fa (法) – Method and discipline: organization, control, execution and logistics.
The author discussed deception as the last essential point in the first chapter of The Art of War, which means that you appear weak when you are in actuality strong. This is borrowed from Tsun Tzus philosophy “All warfare is based on deception (兵不厭詐)”; when you know what you are dealing with, you will know how much of yourself to reveal. Sun Tzus philosophy focuses on deception and deception can be both defensive and offensive.
Chapter 2
Doing battle is the idea behind chapter two. It talks about that you should eat what you kill. In business this cant be a truer statement.
In a business, you cant always bring in your security blankets to get to where you are. You cant get used to the way you do things, you need to adapt to the working environment you are in. They do give you the tools that you need to do to get the job done; its what you do with them to get the job done. Its like the old adage, you can bring a horse to the water but you cant make him drink it.
You also need to take into consideration that it isnt cheap to work in a company. If you want to be noticed you need to be inspired what you are working for. Sun Tzu says that you should have a picture of family, friends, co-workers, basically whatever makes you get up to go to work.
The next step in the book was that you should reward results. Sun Tzu understood this very well. He said that you should reward results to stimulate the morale (Chu 38). When an employee does well, they should get a reward. They need to know that all their efforts and hard work did not go to waste and that it is a valuable asset to the company.
Lastly, you need to sell yourself first. By this, Sun was talking about how in order for you to work at your best, you need to have the space to do so. In order for you to do so, you must convince your boss that you will be a better worker with fewer interruptions. If youre a strong worker and know what youre doing, then getting a little extra space wont be difficult to get.
Sun Tzu brings up the Tao at the end of the chapter. He says that there are five steps that can help you close any deal quickly. The first is to know the product. It maybe common sense but the more you know the product, the easier it is to sell it and to answer any possible questions the potential customer has. Thus this brings us into the second thing one would need to know. One would need to know the customer as well. For example if you are selling vacuums, you need to know if they customer you are selling it to has a big family, has pets or has a messy house. The bigger the problem in the house, the more durable the cleaner they need. After one figures out the customers needs, one has to determine if the product would be the right fit. It may sound contradictory but there may be different versions of the product. They would need the product that best suits them. After all said and done, one should not be afraid to simply ask for the business. If they like the product youre selling, just simply ask if they are ready to purchase it. And last you want to solve any of the customers problems. It can be as simply as how are they going to pay for it. One just needs to know that they will be willing to work with them.
In an article in the Seattle times, she briefly touches upon the different Taos in which she was personally involved with. She obviously knew herself, she knew the customers, and she knew that the product would not fit the costumers needs and walked away from the deal (Lane, 1992).
Chapter 3
The third chapter is titled “strategy” and states to know thyself and others. According to The Art of War, Lao Tzus strategy is “Knowing others is wisdom; knowing yourself is enlightenment.” Lao Tzu which means “old master” in Chinese is the founder of Taoism.
The main points in the chapter are self-understanding and understanding others. There are friends