Understanding sun tzu on the art of war torrent

But the circumstances of modern asymmetrical warfare, fought between sovereign states and rebel or terrorist groups, have raised doubts about many of his strategies. Outside of the battlefield, his book has become increasingly popular among political leaders and business managers. Its title ,The Art of War, is misleading, as the concepts it espouse address a wide variety of strategies, for example in public administration and planning.

The opportunity to secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself. In order to scale agilely, high-performing teams limit their number of members. I recommend that my clients have a team of no more than twenty people, depending on their industry and corporate culture. But why? For the simple reason that he disliked his job.

He found a new job after sending a few resumes and the organization identified new, more motivated leaders. To better understand yourself and your enemy, he suggests self-assessment. Our clients can also send anonymous degree personal branding assessments out to 50 of their peers. The correlation between their self-assessment and feedback from others often appears as we review their self-assessment and feedback from others.

This is a great opportunity for our clients to learn how to improve! You should also look to your team when preparing for conflict, as Sun Tzu did. We typically role play various conflict resolution outcomes with our clients to ensure successful conflict resolution.

By doing so, they are better able to understand the nature of conflict and create solutions that are win-win. As a former Army officer, I doubt the Pentagon was surprised. The head of the organization "is responsible for creating an overall purpose and unity. The next step is that the top military commander " These considerations allow failure to be ONLY accepted by the immediate head of the organization, just as President Kennedy honorably accepted responsibility for the Bay of Pigs.

The timing occurred while the US military was beginning potentially divisive CRT training in all its branches. As L4 states, attack "when the enemy is distracted" and "crash into weakness" ie: the "drawn-down" without adequate on-site reinforcements.

The Taliban timing was perfect. When they were not instantly attentive, the Commander ordered the emperor's two favorites to be beheaded. With prior permission to command he did not stand down and was able to over-rule the emperor's political arguments for his sexual wishes. Absent two members, the harem instantly became good soldiers, focused ONLY on the military mission. The political secretary William Aukland of the Governor General of India managed to depose a British-friendly shah for his own favorite, disliked by Afghans.

The secretary joined a senile but pliant Major General Elphinstone at an indefensible camp just outside Kabul. Aldrete fills in the horrendous details of the bureaucratic messes including the revenge of a relative of the old shah, Major General Elphinstone's indecision, the death of the power hungry Aukland, and the terror of the British retreat through the Khyber Khotal Pass.

Crushed one day, they will rise the next; scattered, it would seem hopelessly, they are ready to reassemble and renew the conflict at the first summons of their chiefs. A weak leader doesn't have enough credibility, in the mind of his enemy, to end war early on his nation's terms. A prior administration had faced down the Taliban and constructed US-friendly negotiations, a remarkably difficult process for a democracy L The unconditional surrender of one side negating prior talks " While the number of lectures is small, the topics covered are concise to this classic of strategic thought.

As the lecturer says, it's one thing to just pull platitudes from The Art of War as ancient Chinese wisdom. It's quite another to fully understand the application and continuing relevance of this work on our world today.

The lecturer does a fantastic job in showcasing why this guide to warfare has endured through centuries. With numerous editions of "The Art of War", this course is a great place to start exploring the classic book. The professor is very knowledgeable and presents the information clearly.

He explains the principles in the book while also illustrating how the principles can be used in present day life. After completing this course, I explored other editions of this book.

The Art of War, is a wonderful book on understanding of how, in War, what is needed to make things happen,to get the best results, to learn moves and strategies, to help you win.

I have read The Art of War many times but I have not read it in the last 5 years. This course provided good reminder of how flexible the words of this book is about stragety and its application in a variety conflicts. The course was short and concise. My favorite part of the course is the first lecture that puts the origins of the book in its historical context something I am afraid to admit I was unfamiliar. This is a great introduction and deeper dive into a classic that many people "know" but few people really know: The Art of War attributed to Sun Tzu.

As Professor Wilson points out, you can find references and applications drawn from this ancient book in many fields, including military, business, and even romance. Most contemporary uses tend to be superficial based on a saying or principle drawn totally out of context.

Understanding the historical background and context of the work is essential before attempting a modern application. Wilson is an expert on this book. How many western commentators are fluent in Mandarin Chinese, much less have participated in conferences in China discussing the book in its original language? He is a knowledgeable, engaging, and interesting teacher, and his speaking style is easy to take. I also enjoy how he weaves examples from history and contemporary life from a variety of fields to illustrate the book's principles.

I recommend this short series to anyone interested in learning more about The Art of War. Wilson was poorly crafted. There are two reasons for this, one is how Mr. Wilson choose to create his presentation, and the other is how Great Courses choose to present it on the CD format.

It appears to be divided into thirteen, relatively short chapters. With this in mind, Mr. Wilson I feel should have divided his lectures into a brief discussion of each chapter in chronological order, and then while speaking of that particular chapter, expand his discourse which reflected those key concepts.

Instead, Mr. Wilson appeared to be all over the place as to his examples and how they related to multiple chapters. In other words, one would have had to read the entire book before understanding the concepts he was presenting.

However, Mr. Wilson does a wonderful job of presenting multiple examples of ancient China wars, other ancient wars, past business successes or failures, and present war or business situations. I wish there had been a few more lectures presented by him, like maybe 8 rather than 6.

He clearly knows the material, but I do not feel he was provided an ample opportunity to expand on them. Second, Great Courses, for whatever reason, choose to put this 3 hour course on three CDs. As this is just an audio course, I feel it should have been put on one CD. I feel they misappropriated their resources both on CDs and on the CD case box. If this had been the first program that I was introduced to on The Great Course program, I would not continue.

But, since I have watched other programs, put out by them, I feel this is more of a fluke rather than the norm. I hope Mr. Wilson has an opportunity to go back and redo this program, his knowledge should not be wasted by this presentation. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:. Chapter 4 Quotes. Related Symbols: Water. Related Themes: Yin and Yang. Page Number and Citation : 24 Cite this Quote.

Explanation and Analysis:. Chapter 5 Quotes. Related Symbols: Water , Animals. Page Number and Citation : 27 Cite this Quote. Chapter 6 Quotes. Page Number and Citation : Cite this Quote. Page Number and Citation : 38 Cite this Quote.