Lan Bercu

"Business is war" warns an ancient Japanese proverb and it is very true that the two are remarkably similar -- especially given the cut-throat, global expansionist, politically-influenced nature of today's markets.

In the Western world, children learn various life lessons from fairy tales. In the Eastern world, children learn about strategy and Chinese military history by reciting the "The Secret Art of War: The 36 Stratagems" first compiled (if not written) by Master Tan, a famous general of the Southern Song Dynasty (ca. Third Century AD). It is believed to be a kind of amalgamation of the texts of "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu and Lao Tzu's "Tao Te Ching".

Since a well-worn copy of the ancient text (printed from an earlier, handwritten version) was "rediscovered" at a roadside vendor's stall in Szechuan Provence in 1941, the wisdom contained within its pages has spread throughout the sphere of Chinese influence in the Far East and beyond.

Even if the participants don't consciously realize the correlation, one can find thousands of examples of the application of one or more of the stratagems in actual news-worthy events, not necessarily related to military actions, that are happening all around the world every day.

The "36 Stratagems" is divided into six chapters. Each chapter is named for a specific situation in which the application of certain tactics prove to be advantageous:

Chapter 1 -- Superior Stratagems: Tactics to be considered when the reader has the position of advantage in the given situation.

Chapter 2 -- Opportunistic Stratagems: Tactics to be considered when it is advantageous for the reader to exploit the vulnerabilities of his/her adversary.

Chapter 3 -- Attacking Stratagems: Tactics to be considered when the reader not only occupies a superior position but also wishes to launch a direct attack upon his/her opponent.

Chapter 4 -- Confusion Stratagems: Delaying tactics meant to serve as a source of confusion to the reader's adversary to allow him/her time to make an escape from the situation.

Chapter 5 -- Deception Stratagems: Deliberately misleading tactics used to confound the reader's opponent so that s/he is caught completely off-guard.

Chapter 6 -- Desperate Stratagems: "Hail-Mary" tactics reserved for those situations in which the reader's position seems hopeless and only some type of dramatic, counter-intuitive "coups de gras" action has any possibility of turning the tide.

Many of the individual stratagems have names that sound as though they might be more at-home in a Yoga class -- i.e., "Lure the Tiger from its Mountain Lair", "Hit the Grass to Startle the Snake", "Sneak Through the Secret Passage of Chen Cang" and "Sacrifice the Plum Tree to Preserve the Peach Tree" -- than in the dog-eat-dog world of business where any one of them can prove extremely effective but, make no mistake, these are tried-and-true military-like strategies that can actually require quite some restraint on the part of the instigator in order to avoid very real violations of the laws of commerce.

The author is an internationally acclaimed expert and speaker on the subjects of cross-cultural competence and global leadership in the marketplace. She is also the Founder and President of Lead Across Cultures International, an Atlanta-based business.… (meer)