Sun Tzu: War is Deception; Business is War – The Lines are Drawn

Sun Tzu, if you haven’t heard of him was an incredibly successful military general in ancient China.  He is traditionally believed to have authored an influential ancient Chinese book on military strategy called The Art of War.  This book was designed to teach strategists and emperors how to win their wars. You can download the free ebook version and see what it’s all about. Sun Tzu’s Art of War has become a staple in the world of business education.  An article I read a few years back even went so far as to attribute that one of the common characteristics of the world’s most successful business leaders was that they approached business as if it were war.

Mind you, I haven’t read the actual book, only excerpts and extracts such as The Art of War for Business and its ilk and read various pithy leadership quotes from Sun Tzu’s work such as:

• A leader leads by example not by force.
• Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.
• Management of many is the same as management of few. It is a matter of organization.
• The general who wins the battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought. The general who loses makes but few calculations beforehand.
• Speed is the essence of war. Take advantage of the enemy’s unpreparedness; travel by unexpected routes and strike him where he has taken no precautions.

However, I was recently watching a military documentary about the impact of deception on the battlefield and I was exposed to a side of Sun Tzu’s teaching not terribly prevalent in those leadership books.  Sun Tzu’s Art of War was quoted as saying “All of war is deception,” setting the theme for the show.

As I have also spent a great deal of time lately soul searching about business ethics, this triggered an epiphany for me.  There is little wonder why we have a plague of deception in business – it’s baked in through the training of our leadership.

The power to deceive one’s enemy is the most powerful weapon that can be used in war.  Leveraging the techniques of misdirection used by illusionists, coupled with deep knowledge of “your enemy”, wars are won by spreading ‘misinformation’ that trick the opposition into believing they know your strengths, weaknesses, and intent.

But who is this “enemy” to whom we should direct all of our negative warrior-like energy and deception?  As they said in WWII, “Loose lips sink ships.”  So, when too many people know the “truth”, you run the risk that some of that truth will leak out into the general public and/or to the elusive enemy.  And, in these successful military campaigns the deception was maintained to those within their own ranks, the media, and the public at large.

So, when you take the “business is war” approach, and you accept the doctrine that deception must be maintained for an effective campaign, in the mind of the leader, what are the limits on this doctrine?  Who is it acceptable to deceive?

• Competitors?
• Customers?
• Employees?
• Stockholders?
• Investors?

I don’t have the solution in my pocket or anything, but it’s obvious we have a problem here.  Perhaps the only thing I am empowered to do is to save myself and maintain my own integrity.

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