The Art of War by Sun Tzu

The Art of War by Sun Tzu and translated by Thomas Cleary is a book about military strategy that still has value today in not just military strategies but also in business. This books gives businesses strategic ideas, and teaches you how to succeed in competitive business situations. This book details Chinese military strategies that concentrated on military victory and national survival. Many of these strategies are easily visible in how they could be translated into the business world. Sun Tzu gave deep thought to his strategies and his life was devoted to his military career.

This book provides many ideas and strategies that can be used in business competition. Sun Tzu noted that most of the people who when in a competitive situation always become confrontational often are destined for failure. Sun Tzu believed that the conflicts that occurred due to competition were often not worth the end result. This principle can be related to business and many instances. This is very prominent in the marketing side of business. Sometimes companies get to caught up with trying to make their competitors look bad that they forget to promote their own product.

This book also showed how people that have a common goal and work together will better chance of being successful. These teachings of teamwork not only work on the battle field but also in business. Through Sun Tzu military strategies it is easy to understand why everyone has to be on the same page so that everyone knows exactly what they are suppose to be doing and what is expected of them. His strategies showed that leaders must make decisions that are for the long-term not just what looks best at that point in time. This definitely is true in business and leadership. Sometimes tough decisions have to be made that will greatly effect business and the long-term goal should always be the main consideration.