Sun Tzu's Warrior's Rules -- for Winning Consistently and Constructively

Why do our members have such a passion for mastering Sun Tzu's Rules? These rules help us take advantage of the way the world is changing. Even though these principles go back 2,500 years to Sun Tzu's The Art of War, they are the best preparation for the new world of individual competition in which we live. Our education system teaches us how to follow orders and plan not make decisions and adapt to change. When people could plan on staying with the same company their whole lives, they didn't have to decide about their competitive position every day. That world is gone forever and we all need to get in touch with the new competitive reality.

A Networked World Requires Rapid Responses

The industrial age was defined by hierarchical organizations and preplanned processes, which minimized individual decision-making. From the invention of the corporation with the railroads in the nineteenth century to the quality movement in the 1980's, the focus was on one-to-many processes (mass production, mass communication, etc.) and internal organization, but with globalization, the advances of organization reached saturation and passed the point of diminishing returns.

Our information age is defined by interconnected organizations and adaptive processes that demand constant decision-making. We live a world where one-to-many systems are replaced by many-to-many networks of individuals whose positions are less connected to organizations. The change is shifting from a focus on internal organization to external competition: among people, organizations, and even nations.

In this change, there have been three important shifts: 1) from following orders to making decisions, 2) from long-term planning to instant responses, and 3) from top-down command to outside-in adaptability. Read what the research says about the challenges of our dynamic world here.  

Trapped In Linear Thinking

This is not the world for which we were trained. Our education system was design to teach us a "deterministic" world view that devalued decision-making. The success of deterministic planning in creating the industrial age made it the dominant world view. Our educational system was specifically designed to train us in this viewpoint. However, both as a philosophy and as a training method, the traditional linear paradigm does not address the decision-rich world we live in.  Read more about how we were trapped in this deterministic worldview here.

More Information Creates More Problems

Time flows in a line in one direction, but information flows in many dimensions. The linear worldview cannot cope with the flood of information in today's world. Using linear thinking, we have to fight with this information: 1) to predict the future, 2) to create a complete picture, 3) to see other viewpoints, and 4) to make choices. Read more about the challenge of information here.

The Benefits and Skills of Adaptive Thinking

In our networked world, we must learn to act as decision-makers, taking command of our lives. We must make good choices every day. Sun Tzu's The Art of War teaches the adaptive methods that a commander needs. These skills focus on quickly recognizing situations (rapid cognition) and seeing your opportunities (recognition-based decision-making). Learn more about the benefits here.