The Art Of WarLearn 10 Leadership Lessons From Sun

Bin!!!

Born 232 DC, Wei State, China

Died 316 DC

Sun Bin was a military strategist who lived during the Warring StatesPeriod. He was the hermit Guiguzi’s student.

He was said to be a descendant ofThe renowned Sun Tzu. His brillianceoutshined his classmate Pang Juan. Pang became jealous and tricked him, which resulted in his loss of knee caps in the State of Wei.

He was considered by many scholars as one of the most outstanding military strategist after Sun Tzu.

The path to victory is not straightforward. It is holistic, dynamic, and in tune with nature. The strategy when facing a stronger opponent is to “attack where he is not prepared and go by way of places where it would never occur to him you would go.”

Lesson # 1 : Avoid The Full, Attack The Empty

“Avoid direct conflicts and confrontations until the primary weak point of their opposition is pinpointed. At this stage, he or she focuses on conquering the

opposition via one major battle with great speed and precision amount of force.”

To start a war, one must have “a storage of materials, a just cause for war” and must “be well-prepared before launching an attack” Sun also pointed out that “Warmongers will inevitably lose and those who expect to make a fortune out of war will also suffer defeat and disgrace.”

Lesson # 2 : Be Well-Prepared

“Only victory in war can bring about authority and prosperity. Preparing the Strategic Advantage”

The commander who has won the sovereign's trust and has an independent command will win.The one who knows the art of war will win. The one who gets uniform support from his soldiers will win. The one whose subordinates work in concert with each other will win. The one who is good at analyzing and utilizing terrain will win.

Lesson # 3 : Select The Best Commander

“Even where the enemy is formidable and numerous, the expert commander can divide and split up the enemy's grades. A skilled commander seeks victory from the

situation and does not demand it of his subordinates. He fights when there is assurance of victory. He stops fighting when there isn't. For one who has really

mastered the way of warfare, his enemy can do nothing to escape death.”

Moral is about the “rightness” of the mission and its ethical conduct. The strength of the great commander lays in the balance from behave or act, that is what is called control. And only when he is in control he can win.

Lesson # 4 : The Rightness of the Commander

“The soldiers will not die for a commander who they do not hold in awe. Thus, rightness is like the head of an army.”

On the day as the rulers are about to enter battle, make every effort to raise and keep morale high. If morale is not roused, they will be lax, and when they are lax, they will be difficult to employ, and when they are difficult to employ, he cannot unite them in purpose and they are sure to be defeated.

Lesson # 5 : Raising and Keeping Morale High

“On the day as you are about to enterbattle, make every effort to raise andkeep morale high”

To make everything works, the rulers need to have a strong reward and punishment incentive system. Most people don't do a task because there is just plain no incentive for them. Setting a reward is very easy to do. The ruler use a reward and punishment incentive system to make them more motivated both internally and externally.

Lesson # 6 : Set Up A Strong Reward & Punishment System

“Having made clear the incentivesof rank and salary, the soldiers

will die for you.”

To be effective, the ruler need a team that is very confident in their abilities to achieve success and in his ability to choose the battles that will be successful. If an individual doesn’t feel like what they are working on is going to be successful, it is very unlikely that they will invest themselves entirely in the project.

Lesson # 7 : Build Full Confidence Among Team

“If a commander does not havethe full confidence of his ruler, he should not take command.”

For gaining strategic advantage in battle, there are no more than “surprise” and “straightforward” operations. They produce inexhaustible combinations. “Surprise” and “straightforward” operations give rise to each other endlessly just as a ring is without a beginning or an end. And who can exhaust their possibilities. 

Lesson # 8 : Straightforward and Surprise Operations

 “Generally in battle use the‘straightforward’ to engage the enemy and the ‘surprise’

to win the victory.”

People make their trials out to be worse than they really are, by the thoughts that they think. If the commander can get into the enemy’s mind and control their thoughts, then he knows that he's got a chance of winning. He knows that if he can get them to see that they will never amount to anything, then he knows he has power of them.

Lesson # 9 : Attack the Heart and Mind

“Concentrate every effort on first subduing its heart-and-mind.”

The commanders must plan ahead of their strategies, and commit no mistakes; one mistake can change the situation – win or loose. He can’t make a mistake. If he is focused on his plan and he sees it as his reality. Then he cannot make a mistake.

Lesson # 10 : Military Mistakes

“Battles are wonby committingno mistakes.”

Sun Bin retired from warfare, devoted himself to the research of military science, and completed his brilliant book Sun Bin : The Art of Warfare. For that era, warfare was increasingly a way of life as well as a way of death. This quality of influence is found throughout Sun Bin's book.. Many scholars consider it to be a brilliant elaboration and a good supplementary text to Sun Tzu : The Art Of War.

“When conventional tactics arealtered unexpectedly accordingto the situation, they take on the element of surprise and increase in strategic value.”

Thank You Very MuchSompong Yusoontorn