Only by learning to accept defeat can we truly understand Sun Tzu's art of war.

Sun Tzu's Art of War occupies an extremely important position in China's traditional culture. It is not only a military book, but also touches all levels of society and is widely quoted in business, management and interpersonal relationships. For example, West Point Military Academy, a famous American military academy, takes Sun Tzu's Art of War as their teaching reference book. Kōnosuke Matsushita, president of Panasonic, internalized Sun Tzu's Art of War into corporate culture. China's military strategists of past dynasties will regard Sun Tzu's Art of War as the theoretical basis for formulating military strategy.

Sun Tzu's Art of War was written in the late Spring and Autumn Period, and it has been more than 2500 years now. Since its publication, this book has been interpreted by many historical celebrities. The first person who made a systematic annotation on it was Cao Cao in the Three Kingdoms period, and later it was annotated and explained by many famous artists, which has been passed down to this day. Sun Tzu's art of war is mainly about bullying the weak, not defeating the strong with the weak. Sun Tzu thinks that waiting is the best strategy in many cases. Everything must be thought on the premise of failure.

When it comes to the art of war, our first reaction is to use "tricks" and try to defeat the enemy with the least manpower, material resources and financial resources. For example, we all know that in the famous battles in history, Battle of Red Cliffs and Zhou Yu wiped out more than 200,000 enemy troops with 50,000 men, which laid the foundation for the tripartite confrontation among the three countries. In the Battle of Feishui, Xie Xuan beat Fu Jian's 970,000 troops out of the water with 80,000 troops. When chasing Luoyang, Fu Jian's 970,000 people left over 654.38+10,000.

There is a saying in Sun Tzu's Art of War that "soldiers are also cunning", and the whole sentence is translated as follows: the way to use soldiers lies in the ever-changing and unexpected.

This sentence came out, but many people were wrong. The understanding of most people is that the use of troops lies in strategy, and more cunning methods should be used. It's actually wrong. The stratagem in Sun Tzu's Art of War does not refer to stratagem, but to calculate the probability of victory or defeat in advance through objective analysis. That is, "calculation." Sun Tzu's original intention is not to advocate that we should use more strategies and cleverness to achieve the goal of defeating the strong with the weak. Instead, it is advocated to calculate more before the war and use probability analysis to decide the outcome. If the probability of winning is high, we will fight; The probability of winning is small, so don't waste people and money

"The Art of War" mentioned: "Soldiers, the important events of the country, the place of life and death, and the way of survival must be observed", which means that military affairs are the important events of the country and human lives are related to the sky. We can't act rashly, we should check it carefully. Sun Tzu is advocating that people should have awe. They have to evaluate various factors and find that they have an absolute advantage. They are already very powerful and will definitely win. Only then can they go to war. Therefore, the core idea of Sun Tzu's art of war is to teach people to bully the weak, not to defeat the strong with the weak.

What we heard most before was the victory of Zhuge Liang's various strategies, such as an empty plan and borrowing arrows from grass boats. Even now, in the competitive game between big companies and small companies, many CEOs are learning Zhuge Liang's equity strategy and how to make use of his strategy to make small and big. However, Zhuge Liang's strategy is not the strategy emphasized in Sun Tzu's Art of War. The plan emphasized in Sun Tzu's Art of War is called five things and seven plans.

Five things and seven quantities are the reference indexes to measure yourself and your opponent proposed in Sun Tzu's Art of War. Five things refer to "Tao, heaven, earth, generals and law", which refers to five aspects, namely, politics, meteorology, geography, general quality and military system. Seven, ask yourself seven questions: Is it moral to send troops this time? Is the general capable? What's the weather like? What's the geographical environment? Is there any rule in the army? Who is better at comparing weapons with the other side? Are soldiers regularly practicing? Is the reward and punishment mechanism of the army clear?

In Sun Tzu's Art of War, it is mentioned that "a good fighter wins, no wisdom and no name, no courage and no plan", that is, a person who can really fight. Their achievements all look ordinary, and there are no thrilling and bizarre stories at all. They all rely on their own strength to crush their opponents, which is what Zeng Guofan often said. The real victory seems unremarkable and there is no story. Because the outcome was decided before the war.

Therefore, Sun Tzu's art of war pays attention to defeating the enemy without fighting. He advocated that the battle should be defeated by the strong, and the victory or defeat should be decided before the start of the war, rather than a dramatic game of defeating the strong with the weak. Be awed by your own decision-making, and make sure that you are in an absolute advantage before you act. This is the truth taught by Sun Tzu's Art of War.

During the Warring States Period, there were three Japanese heroes, Nobunaga, Toyotomi Hideyoshi and Tokugawa Ieyasu. One day the three men walked the bird together, but the bird didn't crow. What shall we do? Nobunaga said, "Kill it if you don't bark, and see if it barks." Toyotomi Hideyoshi said: "If you don't kill, you will be rewarded if you scream, and if you don't scream, you will be punished, so you will definitely scream." Finally, when asked what Tokugawa Ieyasu had to do, Tokugawa Ieyasu said slowly, "Don't do anything, just wait. It's a bird, and it will call sooner or later. " ?

This is of course a joke made up by later generations, but it also shows a truth that waiting is sometimes the best choice. Of these three people, Tokugawa Ieyasu is not necessarily the bravest, but he is the most patient and can wait. As a result, Tokugawa Ieyasu lived the longest and eventually unified Japan. Hannibal, the famous military commander in ancient Europe, once said a famous saying: attack is the best defense. But many contents in Sun Tzu's Art of War reflect the importance of waiting. Many times, waiting is more important than attacking.

For example, sun Tzu said: in the past, those who were good at fighting were invincible first, and they waited for the enemy to win. You can't beat yourself, but you can beat the enemy. Therefore, a good soldier can be invincible, but the enemy cannot be defeated. Therefore, it is not feasible to win. ? This sentence is a bit long and a bit roundabout. In fact, the meaning is very simple, that is, people who are good at fighting in ancient times always take care of themselves, defend themselves closely, put on an invincible posture, and then wait for an opportunity to attack the enemy. Whether you can be defeated by yourself is your business, and whether others can be defeated depends on whether they give you a chance or make mistakes. We can't win if others are impeccable. What can we do at this time? Only wait. What are you waiting for? Waiting for the other party to make a mistake, waiting for the situation to change.

So what's the situation? In fact, these two words should be seen separately. The form is to look at whether it can be done before doing something; Potential refers to observing the situation after starting to do things and improvising when encountering problems. Many people think that waiting is inaction and a sign of cowardice. You have to keep tossing and turning to have a feeling of peace of mind. In fact, this is a strategic anxiety. Actually, doing nothing is not inaction, but a process of accumulation and accumulation. Waiting for their own strength to grow slowly, waiting for the other party to make mistakes, waiting for the situation to change, as long as there is an opportunity, they will make a decisive move, seize it and decide the outcome with one blow. This is the value of waiting. Success must have a lot of sufficient and long-term accumulation, and only in this way can we live beyond the imagination of others.

There is another sentence in Sun Tzu's Art of War, which makes this idea of "equality" very thorough. The book says: "You can't win, you can defend, you can win, you can attack, the rules are insufficient, and you can attack more. Those who are good at defending hide under nine places, and those who are good at attacking move over nine days, so they can protect themselves and are better than all games." In other words, when you are in a weak position compared with the enemy, you should defend honestly; Wait until you have the spare capacity and a lot of spare capacity, and then launch an overwhelming attack. It can be seen that Sun Tzu's war thought is conservative. The battle can't start easily. In the absence of absolute certainty, we should not rush to attack, but should accumulate our own strength until we are absolutely sure. In fact, this sentence not only embodies Sun Tzu's thought of advocating defense and waiting, but also has a thought of preservation, not only to preserve himself, but also to preserve the materials of the whole city, and even to preserve the enemy, and it is best not to kill even the other people. The best way is to strengthen your momentum. As soon as the enemy sees our overwhelming fighting capacity, their fighting capacity will collapse in an instant, lay down their weapons and surrender, and finally take refuge in us, then our army will grow, that is, defeat the enemy without fighting.

Sun Tzu believes that victory is only a means, not an end.

What is the purpose of the war? It should be to surrender to the enemy and achieve stability. In other words, there is no point in winning several battles. The best way is to solve the enemy once and for all with absolute superiority, so that the enemy can lose his fighting spirit and truly win the war. Therefore, the phrase "the good defender hides under nine places" means that it is worthless to keep and wait for it, accumulate one's own strength in waiting, do not make unnecessary consumption, and finally save oneself and even the enemy with absolute strength. This is the highest level of fighting.

For business operators, intensive cultivation in their own fields is defense, and expanding their business in other fields is attack. Personally, the same is true. Being a professional champion, focusing on and sticking to a major, becoming an expert in five years and an authority in ten years is also a kind of defense. If you can hold a field and a position, you can always live outside the imagination of others.

Then what is "a good attacker, moving for nine days"? Even when attacking others, there is no room for them to fight back. What do you mean more than nine days? Explain that you and the other party are not at the same level, not in a dimension, not in a battlefield. People who have moved for more than nine days don't feel that they are competing with anyone at all, while those who are blown down by the big wind he brought feel that their things have been taken away by others. Therefore, I am good at waiting and accumulating. At that time, I will be born. Everyone has been watching you move for more than nine days. At this time, others want to learn from you. Where can they learn? They will take a time machine, go back to N years ago and start studying again. What they see is not the reason for your success. It is estimated that only you know this truth, and that is the competitiveness that waiting brings you.

Before starting work, think clearly about what to do if you fail, which is different from the way we usually do things. Usually we think on the premise of success, and everyone is trying to make it happen, so the whole process revolves around how to succeed.

Maybe many people will say, isn't this normal? Don't teach us success, don't teach us failure? The starting point of Sun Tzu's art of war is really not to think on the premise of success, but to think on the premise of failure. If Sun Tzu starts to do something, he will first assume that it will fail, and then all his thinking, analysis, judgment, planning and decision-making will focus on how to avoid failure and reduce costs, so as to make himself invincible first and then strive for success.

Running a company, like fighting a war, should also think on the premise of failure. Why do some people start a business, can concentrate on a field, sharpen a sword for ten years, and finally become an industry leader? Others, on the other hand, work here today, work there tomorrow, and finally become professional households with failed operations. What is the root cause behind it?

In fact, it is the difference in "thinking mode". The former is not necessarily a great wisdom, but a "failure premise thinker". Whatever you say to him, he thinks it's an adventure. He first assumed that he couldn't do it, pushed himself into a desperate situation, and imagined strategies to deal with risks. Finally, he became a master. The latter person is a "thinker with success as the premise", who thinks that everything he hears is a great opportunity, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and can't be missed. Because I was afraid of missing it, I finally got nothing, and I have been tumbling in the entrepreneurial wave, and I have not seen any improvement.

There is also a sentence in the book: "Therefore, people who do not fully understand the harm of using troops cannot fully understand the benefits of using troops." It means that it is impossible to know the benefits of using troops without fully understanding the dangers of using them. It's best to consider the failure first, then the gain. Just like our business now. Starting a business is very similar to fighting. It's a narrow escape, which may be ten times lower than the chance of fighting, because fighting is a fight between both sides, and either you win or I win.

Startups are not. You think you are fighting against your competitors, but in fact you are fighting against the changes in the market. The market environment has no obligation to help entrepreneurs, so when starting a business, you can avoid harm first and then make a profit. Because the benefits are gone today, there may be tomorrow, but the fatal injury may make us lose everything and be completely out. Therefore, avoiding harm is much more important than seeking profit. This is not to compare which kind of thinking is better. Everyone's conditions are different. Sun Tzu reminds us here that we should fully consider the risks before doing things. War is as good as business, so it is better to be cautious.

In addition to being cautious and avoiding failure, Sun Tzu has a deeper understanding of failure, that is, learning to admit failure. This is what the book says: "Therefore, the method of using troops is to encircle it with ten, attack it with five, and divide it twice. The enemy can fight and cannot be avoided. Therefore, the strength of a small enemy is also the capture of a big enemy. " Generally speaking, it is necessary to measure the gap between the enemy and ourselves to decide the next action. A weak army will only become a prisoner of a strong army if it fights hard with the enemy.

It can be seen from here that Sun Tzu is an extremely conservative person. He won first and then played. If there is no chance of winning, don't fight. As long as the troops are less than the other side, then we will resolutely not fight. Run, go first. This seems completely different from what we usually think. The story we often tell now is to win more with less, win the strong with weakness, stick to the end and never give up. In particular, we can see that there are many examples in history, such as the Battle of Julu, the Battle of Guandu and the Battle of Ningyuan.

Why can't you call? In fact, this is called "silent evidence" in management. The real high probability events are silent, while those small probability events are often hyped up. The fleeing generals will naturally not publicize their defeat, and those battles that bully the weak are too common to spread. For thousands of years, this small probability event that the weak wins the strong seems to be a high probability event.