Chapter 7 – The Battlefield (Strategy and Goal Setting)
Overcoming Life’s Obstacles
Sun Tzu
The Grandmaster of War
More than two and a half thousand years ago, a man by the name of Sun Tzu wrote a book. He called it the Art of War. Chinese today refer to this incredible work as Sun Tzu’s Art of War. It details completely the subject of effective military strategy. Sun Tzu’s book was so well-written and his theories so powerful, that the king of the kingdom of Wu made Sun Tzu the general and master strategist for his entire army. The kingdom of Wu was invincible for about two decades, but after Sun Tzu passed away, and his theories then forgotten by the army, the kingdom of Wu succumbed to its enemies and was finally defeated in 473 B.C. In 1782, Father Amiot – a travelling Jesuit priest – translated the Art of War from the Chinese into French. As a result, it has been said that Napoleon himself used Sun Tzu’s strategies to win his battles, and that his final defeat was a result of neglecting Sun Tzu’s theories.
In 1905 the Art of War was translated into English. And finally, 88 years later, in 1993, its theories were incorporated into this book, as a tribute and homage to the great man himself, Sun Tzu, the grandmaster of war.
The 36 Stratagems
More Power from China
In addition to the Art of War, the Chinese have enjoyed yet another tome of strategic theory: The 36 Stratagems. Interestingly enough, no one person wrote the 36 Stratagems. In fact, each of the 36 was derived from numerous sources and strategic thinkers, distilled over the centuries and passed from generation to generation mainly by word of mouth. Even today, the Chinese people know of the 36 Stratagems the same way proverbs are passed down through history in other cultures of the world. For those of us who are predominantly North American, we can enjoy this collection of wisdom from China through the wonderful book, Lure the Tiger Out of the Mountains, by Gao Yuan (published by Simon & Schuster). I highly recommend it, along with the Art of War.
The Art of Cyborg War
The Path to Invincibility
Now that you know the two major sources for strategic theory, let us begin to apply the wisdom to win our own wars, to achieve our own BigT’s.
In the remainder of this chapter, I will discuss with you the many theories of strategic warfare. I will provide only a concise and brief synopsis of their wisdom. I cannot give you the totality of their application. Individual needs will vary among users, and between situations. It is impossible to cover each and every possible use for the strategies, but knowledge of their overall description and value will allow the aspiring cyborg to tailor the strategy to the needs of specific circumstances, and understand the options available at his or her disposal.
Neither will I present all of the strategies of warfare. Some of them have very little relevance to events outside of warfare, and some of them have questionable ethical value. Moreover, a full treatise on every single strategic concept would be overwhelming, and you will find it confusing and impossible to choose among so many possibilities. I have limited this chapter to only the strategies that I feel are worthy enough deserve our attentions, for the time being. I will leave futher investigation into the matter as the topic for another book. If your curiousity is still piqued after reading my presentation, then I recommend you examine the sources listed in Appendix B for more information.
There is no strict format in which I will present the following material. With very few exceptions, no one strategy is more important the the others. Priorities of application will differ with changes in situational demands. It is up to you, the user, to understand their value, and select the best appropriate applications for them. I will also tend to use more examples that have to do with school, rather than business, for I feel that there tend to be more sources for business strategy than the academic counterpart. Do not, however, make the mistake of limiting the use of the strategies to my discussion: The strategies are universally applicable.
Without futher ado then, I present to you, the Art of Cyborg War.
