Inscription: On June 19, 2021, the 36th Lecture of the MBA Forum of the Peking University Development Institute was held simultaneously online and offline, and Professor Gong Yuzhen, Professor of Management of the National Development Institute, Vice Dean of the BiMBA Business School of the National Development Institute and Deputy Director of the Academic Committee, was invited to bring a keynote speech with the theme of "Sun Tzu's Concept of Total Victory in the Art of War and the Self-Improvement of Managers". This article is based on the content of the speech.
First, the introduction
The title of this lecture should actually be "Why General Patton Can't Become Eisenhower."
I love the saying: Battlefield is the best leadership class. There are two classic biopics related to World War II: One is "General Patton", which reflects the story of General Patton's battles in France and Germany after landings in North Africa, Italy and Normandy during World War II. One is Ike: Countdown to D-Day, which literally translates as "Ike: Countdown to the Normandy Landings", but the name of the Chinese release is "The Great Storm of Normandy", which reflects the entire decision-making process of The Allied Commander-in-Chief of Europe before normandy landing day. Ike was Eisenhower. There is a lot of overlap between the plots of these two films, so it is interesting to look at them in contrast.
What I'm interested in is that three characters are involved in both films: General Patton, Eisenhower, and Bradley. Eisenhower later became President of the United States. Bradley later became chairman of the U.S. Military Joints, the highest position in the U.S. military.
In fact, General Patton's starting point is higher than the other two. When he returned from Europe after World War I, General Patton was the commander of the tank brigade and Eisenhower was the commander of the tank battalion. Barton also promoted Eisenhower and served as Eisenhower's mentor, that is, mentor. While fighting in North Africa, Patton was commander of the 7th Army and Bradley was the commander of his 2nd Army.
However, during the Normandy landings and in the ensuing operations, Eisenhower was commander-in-chief of the Allied forces in Europe, Bradley was commander of Eisenhower's 12th Army Group, and Patton was commander of Bradley's 3rd Army.
A lot of people like General Patton, and I like it too. But from a career perspective, Barton must have encountered some bottleneck. What kind of implications will Patton's story bring to managers' self-improvement?
I've seen The General Patton no less than three times, but if I had chosen only one film as a teaching material for leadership, I would have chosen The Great Storm of Normandy. The film tells us that General Patton is certainly a good general, but Eisenhower is a great coach.
I would like to use the analytical framework of sun tzu's art of war to talk about the four levels of managers I understand and how managers can improve themselves.
Second, Sun Tzu's pursuit of "total victory"
Regarding victory, Sun Tzu has such a classic exposition: "Whoever uses the law of the army is the first in the whole country, and the destruction of the country is secondary." The whole army is the first, and the broken army is second. The whole brigade is the first, and the broken brigade is second. The whole pawn is the first, and the broken pawn is secondary. The whole army is the first, and the broken army is secondary. ”
To use modern expressions: you let the other country surrender in its entirety, for your use, this is the highest state. You break through the other country and then you win, which is the second-class realm. You let the opposing army surrender intact, for your use, which is the highest realm. You defeat the opposing army and then you win, which is a second-class realm. And so on, all the way to the pawn and the wu, it is the same.
In this passage, Sun Tzu proposes a pair of very important concepts— "all" and "broken." "Complete" means consummation, and "broken" means broken, referring to two different kinds of victory.
What is the biggest feature of war? Kill a thousand enemies and inflict eight hundred self-inflicted wounds. War is a form of violent confrontation, and violent confrontation often costs both sides of the confrontation dearly. If you beat your opponent, but you also lose a lot. If you have achieved the world, but the world has been broken. What is the significance of such a victory, such a world?
This is also true of corporate competition. If you beat all your competitors, but the whole industry has been broken, what is the point of such a victory?
We see too many examples of this: the escalating vicious competition in the industry evolves step by step into competitors hurting each other, and finally leaving the entire industry without a real winner, thus falling into what Sun Tzu called "breaking" the win.
What is the purpose of corporate competition? Not simply to beat an opponent. Rational competition is to create a good environment for their own enterprises that is more conducive to long-term development.
The same is true of personal career development.
In Sun Tzu's view, "whole" and "broken" are two different ideas, two different thoughts, two different realms, and two different endings.
The concept of military science is always more abstract and not easy to understand, but it is much easier to understand by analogy. There is an expert in the Art of War in the United States named McNearly, who once used to play chess to help us understand what is "full" and "broken". He said Westerners like to play chess. How to play chess? Eat seeds. The goal is to win by constantly destroying the opponent's pieces. At the beginning of the game, the board is full of pieces. But when the chess is finished and the victory and defeat have been divided, there are few children on the entire chessboard, and only the broken chess game is left. He said it was called "breaking."
Ordinary Chinese people also play chess, but China's real masters play Go. How to play Go? If you focus on eating each other's sons, you will never become a master. Go should learn to layout and create momentum. Chess players focus on the evolving big picture, not the momentary life and death. So Go is often you play yours, I play mine, and there is no conflict for half a day. In Go, you can't beat your opponent by endlessly eating. If you only use mutually harmful means, you will never win the game. In fact, in a master game, there are usually few sub-games that will be eaten, you just need to occupy the largest area of the territory. Eating seeds is a secondary goal. And more importantly, in contrast to chess, go is completely empty at the beginning of the game; but at the end of the game, the entire board is full. McNelly says that's "all."
This is also true of competition. We should learn to think in Go, not in chess.
Don't think of competition, think of simple confrontation, conflict. The competition in which the master is engaged has never been such a competition. Therefore, Sun Tzu said: "A hundred battles are won, and the good who are not good are also good." Soldiers who yield without fighting, and those who are good are also good. "Winning every battle is not the highest hand in the master; you can win without fighting, this is the master of the master."
At first glance, Sun Tzu's concept seems to be different from the concept of our ordinary people: a hundred battles and a hundred victories, what a good general! What manager doesn't want a victorious general under him? Why does Sun Tzu say, "A hundred battles are won, and the good who is not good is also"?
Where is the focus of "100 battles and 100 victories"? "War". "War" is confrontation, that is, conflict. Constantly winning through confrontation and conflict will definitely bring you great consumption.
There are often examples in wars: winning the immediate but losing the long term; winning the part but losing the overall situation.
We often see such friends around us: excellent eloquence, no obstacles to debate, strong competitiveness, and when debating with people, we must compete for a victory or defeat. The result? You argue with the client, you win the debate, but you lose business. You argue with the leader, you win the debate, but you lose the environment in which you live. You argue with the team, you win the debate, but you lose the support of others. You argue with your family, you win the debate, but you hurt your feelings.
If you fall too deep into local competition, you will lose the ability to grasp the overall situation. Dealing with things with a confrontational mindset, even if it wins, is often a last resort.
Managers, of course, should focus on competition and rivalry. But pay too much attention to your opponent, and your vision will be limited by the opponent. Too much competition and hostility will limit your vision and pattern, affect your judgment and thinking, and your strategic choices, leaving you stuck in the dead knot of competing with your opponents.
True masters will not just stare at the moment, but focus on the ever-changing overall situation.
If you look back at your own career or that of your friends around you, you will find a very interesting phenomenon: when you are just starting a business, you often value every victory and give every victory at all costs. But over time you will find that not every victory is so important, and not all victories can only be achieved through confrontation. Sometimes the non-confrontational approach, or even the cooperative approach, will make you less costly, less costly, win more, and the result more perfect.
Third, the four levels of competition
So Sun Tzu said, "A soldier who yields without a fight, and a good man who is good." "You can win without fighting, this is the master of the master."
Of course, you may say: I don't want to fight, I want to win everything, but sometimes I have to fight, sometimes the opponent forces me to fight. Just like market competition, the market is so big, there are so many customers, I don't fight, it will fall into the hands of the opponent, I can't argue?
Sun Tzu's answer is: it is okay to fight, but it is hierarchical. He said: "Therefore, the upper soldiers cut down the plot, followed by the exchanges, the second cut the troops, and the next attacked the city." The method of siege is a last resort. "The best strategy is to thwart the opponent's strategy, followed by the diplomacy of the opponent, the third is to defeat the opponent's army, and the bottom strategy is to attack the opponent's fortified city."
Siege is a last resort.
True masters should compete at a high level and avoid entering a low level to compete.
"Cutting conspiracies", "cutting down diplomatic relations", "cutting down soldiers", and "attacking cities" are the four levels of competition.
The first level: the plot
The first level of competition is "going up to the military and cutting down the plot". The so-called "conspiracy" means far-sighted thinking, strategic thinking, and the ability to grasp the future, including strategic layout. The meaning of "going up to the army and cutting down the plot" is that the real master has always defeated the opponent at the level of strategic thinking and strategic layout.
Learn to think strategically. We must have a forward-looking vision and learn to get rid of the immediate transactional work. To go beyond the battlefield, to get rid of the reactive thinking mode that binds you in daily competition, you must have a sense and ability to take the momentum and layout in advance.
The characteristics of competition are: if you don't have your own strategy, you will become part of the other party's strategy; if you don't have your own plan, you will become part of the other party's plan. As mentioned earlier, competition is like playing chess. A pawn, without an overall strategy, is likely to be a waste.
After the chess strength has reached a certain level, why can't some people become first-class masters? It is because the overall situation is weak, so it is particularly easy to fall into local competition, but it is impossible to control the entire chessboard. You may also have partial wins, but you don't know how to take advantage of them.
In fact, the same is true of life. The biggest difference between people is not the background, talent, or opportunity, but whether there is a clear goal or not, and the strategic thinking around that goal.
It's easy for people to get lost in complex environments, and so are organizations.
Long-term strategy will make your actions have far-reaching significance, so that your efforts have consistency and continuity. Long-term strategy allows you to understand what you are doing at every step, understand how the realization of each specific goal promotes the achievement of the overall goal, and can help you develop tactical opportunities into strategic victories. Long-term strategy can make you jump out of the competition gains and losses of one time and one place, so that you can develop your unique capabilities and advantages step by step, so as to grasp the direction and destiny of you and the organization from a longer dimension.
The second level: cutting
Sun Tzu said, "Secondly, cut the friendship." "Diplomatic relations" means diplomacy, and "cutting diplomatic relations" means strategic alliances, that is, the integration of resources we are talking about today.
You have good strategic foresight and may even have a clear strategy, but your resources are always limited. To achieve your strategy, it is often not enough to do it alone. You must learn to integrate resources, make up for the lack of your own resources through the combination of resources, change the balance of power, and form a power pattern and competitive environment that is beneficial to yourself.
This is the second level of the competition for masters: "cutting." "Cutting is the ability to deal with interpersonal relationships, the ability to integrate resources."
Hu Linyi, the second-ranking figure in the Xiang Army, once said: "For the way of a general, it is mainly to be willing to save people and consolidate the overall situation, and it is not appropriate to show off one's own strengths, especially it is not appropriate to accuse people of their shortcomings." "Willing to save people is the sense of cooperation; consolidating the overall situation is the concept of the overall situation."
The general is the executive. As an ordinary employee and grassroots manager, you have to prove your ability, make your own performance, and have a sense of competition. But for executives, the sense of cooperation and the concept of the overall situation are your most critical qualities. If there is no sense of cooperation and the concept of the overall situation, no matter how strong your personal ability and performance are, you can only be an ordinary manager, not worthy of being an executive.
This is why Ali chooses executives above vice president to look at three things: vision, pattern, and mind. For executives, the ability to go it alone must give way to teamwork, benefit-sharing, and resource integration. The ability to use the ability of others is the higher ability, and the wisdom of using the wisdom of others is the highest wisdom. Let people who are better than you be willing to use it for you, this is the master of the master.
The third level: logging
What is a "logger"? It is not a simple hard-hitting, not a simple confrontation of strength and resource consumption, it emphasizes that if you want to fight, you must skillfully fight, you must use wisdom to fight, you must use your brain to fight, you must give full play to your own advantages to fight, and you must use the smallest cost to achieve the greatest benefits.
In the 1960s, the pressure from the Soviet Union was very high, and war was likely to break out between China and the Soviet Union. Mao Zedong was a very good at fighting, and some people asked Mao Zedong: How should we fight a war? Mao Zedong said: Fighting a war is actually very simple, that is, eight words - "You fight yours, I fight mine." ”
You fight me on the battlefield where you have the advantage, you fight with me at a time that is favorable to you, and you fight with me according to the way you have the advantage, but I can't do this. I must pull you to the battlefield where I have an advantage, at a time that is good for me, and take a play that is good for me.
Mao Zedong also said: If these two sentences are not enough, then add two more sentences - "If you win a fight, you will fight, and if you can't win a fight, you will leave." "If you win a fight, you must fight resolutely, and if you can't win a fight, you must resolutely go." Fight only the battles you can win, and refuse to fight the battles you can't win. Only fight with each other in areas that are beneficial to you, and refuse to fight with each other in areas that are not conducive to yourself. Fight only at a time that is good for you, and refuse to fight at a time that is not good for you. Only take those play styles that are favorable to you, and refuse to take play styles that are not good for yourself.
"You hit yours, I hit mine." "If you can win, you can fight, and if you can't win, you will leave." These two paragraphs vividly explain the core of the method of using soldiers since ancient times. Almost all the beautiful battles in history have been fought in this way.
In the Battle of Menglianggu, Zhang Lingfu's reorganized 74th Division was one of the five main forces of the Kuomintang and one of the three main forces. Mechanized troops, all American equipment, tanks, heavy artillery, cars. The officers were all graduates of the Whampoa Military Academy and trained by the U.S. Military Advisory Corps. The 74th Division has also been experienced in the battlefield for a long time and has strong combat effectiveness. Such a force, in the plains, is rampage. Therefore, before the Battle of Menglianggu, the East China Field Army fought with the 74th Division several times, but it did not have much upper hand. The reason why it is important is because the battlefield is in plain areas such as northern Jiangsu and Southern Lunan.
Su Yu chose to fight at Meng Lianggu. Menglianggu is located in the Yimeng Mountains, the mechanized troops are unable to move at all, and the advantages of the heavy equipment of the reorganized 74th Division cannot be brought into play at all, while the infantry of the East China Field Army is the mainstay, and the advantages of mountain warfare and mobile warfare have been fully brought into play. In the last three days and three nights, the 74th Division was destroyed.
At the same time as the Battle of Menglianggu, there was also a battle, that is, the three battles and three victories in the northwest. At that time, the Kuomintang had two key offensive directions, one focusing on attacking Shandong and the other focusing on attacking northern Shaanxi. Shandong fought the Battle of Menglianggu, and northern Shaanxi fought three battles and three victories.
The three battles and three victories were commanded by Peng Dehuai. At that time, Hu Zongnan's 250,000-strong army attacked northern Shaanxi, and Peng Dehuai only had 25,000 men, one to ten. In addition to the disparity in the number of soldiers, there is also the gap in weapons and equipment. The weapons and equipment of the Communist army are incomparable with those of the Kuomintang army. The Communist Party is at an absolute disadvantage, so how can such a battle be fought?
Peng Dehuai skillfully took advantage of the special ditches and bumps of the Loess Plateau in northern Shaanxi, the support of the common people for the Communist Party, and Hu Zongnan's eagerness to find the main force of the communist army to fight a decisive battle, using a small number of troops to disguise the main force and attract the Kuomintang troops in circles in the ravines, that is, the so-called "mushroom tactics" and "armed parades" at that time. The Kuomintang troops were dragged on for more than a month and exhausted. In their own words, it's called "fat dragging thin, skinny dragging dead". The advantages cannot be played out at all, but they are passively beaten everywhere.
The Communists, on the other hand, concentrated their superior forces and seized the opportunity to strike a division or even a brigade of the Kuomintang at a time. After the fight, quickly move away, and then find an opportunity to fight the next battle. After the fight, quickly transfer and find an opportunity to fight the next battle. In the end, three battles and three victories stabilized the situation in the northwest.
This is "you hit yours, I hit mine". When I don't have an advantage, I definitely don't fight you hard, but I have to take measures to make your advantages unable to play out and let my advantages play out fully. Only when my advantages can be fully utilized, I will fight with you.
If we say that "cutting plots" and "cutting diplomatic relations" emphasize that it is best to win without fighting, then what "cutting soldiers" emphasizes is that if you want to fight, you must fight skillfully and use wisdom to fight.
From the perspective of manager's personal development, it means that you have to find your own clear position in life. What exactly are you good at, what do you really like, and which areas can best play to your strengths and strengths.
If life is likened to a war, then fight the battle you are good at, fight the battle you like, find a place to play your strengths, and fight with a way that can play your advantages.
Remember, you hit yours, I hit mine.
The fourth level: siege
The fourth level is siege, that is, to attack the fortified castle of the other side. Sun Tzu said, "Siege the city under him." The method of siege is a last resort. ”
In Sun Tzu's time, there was no gunpowder, no firearms, unlike today when we have cannons and missiles. At that time, there were only two ways to siege the city: one was to attack hard, and the other was to besiege for a long time. Hard work requires siege vehicles, siege towers, ladders, etc., people continue to climb up, the city constantly shoots arrows and throws stones, people keep falling down, and the moats are piled up. Therefore, Sun Tzu said: "Kill one-third of the soldiers, and those who do not pull out the city, this attack will also be a disaster." "The casualties of the soldiers reached one-third, and the city still could not be defeated, which was the disaster brought about by the siege.
Another is the long siege. I'll surround you and kill you. When you're done eating, when you're done drinking, when you're done with your arrows, you have to surrender. But we all know that once a war is fought, no side will easily lose. Therefore, in the Spring and Autumn Period, there is an allusion called "Changing Children and Eating", being surrounded in the city, eating all the grain, not being able to bear to eat their own children, and exchanging children with each other. Even so, do not surrender.
Sun Tzu said, "The method of besieging the city is a last resort." "Siege is a lose-lose style of play, a style of play without wisdom, a style of fighting hard, and a brave style of play.
Siege is a style of play that is only taken when forced to do so, and wise generals must try to avoid falling into siege situations. When you are constantly caught in the "siege" dilemma in the workplace, your life must be at the strategic level of problems.
Fourth, the four levels of managers
The upper soldiers cut the plot, the second cut the friendship, the second cut the soldiers, and the next attacked the city. This constitutes the four levels of managers.
The real master is to fight at a high level and avoid falling into a low level.
Looking back at a person's entrepreneurial or career development history, you will find a very interesting phenomenon: when you just started a business, or when you just entered the workplace, in order to survive and gain a foothold, sometimes you have to "attack the city", a customer to pry, a single single to take, just like a city to attack. Sieges are always very tough.
Slowly, you have your own team, you have your own understanding of the market. You start to think about a question: which markets should I enter and which markets should I give up? Which customers are my customers, and which customers should I not have worked on at all? What advantages do I have, what disadvantages do I have? What threats do my competitors pose to me, and what weaknesses can I use? What kind of play should I take and what kind of play should I not take?
At this time, you have begun to have a preliminary sense of strategic thinking, and have begun to enter the level of "cutting down soldiers".
However, on your own and on your team, resources are always limited. If you want to achieve greater achievements, you must enter the third level, "cutting off", that is, paying attention to interpersonal relationships and learning to integrate resources. To integrate a variety of resources for your use.
But what is the highest level of ability? "Cutting plots". That is, strategic foresight, strategic vision, and strategic layout. At this point, your leadership is truly at the strategic level, and it is your truly mature strategic leadership.
Therefore, this picture looks up from the bottom up, that is, from "siege", to "cutting troops", to "cutting diplomatic relations", to "cutting plots", which is actually the process of continuous improvement of a person or an organization in leadership and strategic thinking.
We can also look at this figure from above. The top level is "cutting conspiracy", that is, having a clear strategic vision and strategic concept.
With a clear strategic concept, you can move down to the level of "cutting off diplomatic relations". At this time, your interpersonal relationship and resource integration is the relationship and integration under the guidance of strategic concepts. Without a clear strategy, how do you know what bureau to lay? How do you know what kind of resources to integrate? How do you know what kind of relationships to build? With a clear strategy, your "cutting off" is "cutting off diplomatic relations" under the guidance of "cutting plots".
After you have integrated your resources and laid out the situation, you will enter the level of "cutting down soldiers" and you will find that you have created a strategic pattern that is beneficial to you. This creates the most favorable conditions for you to win at the level of business competition.
Further down, into the "siege" level, you will find that at this time, your "siege" is no longer a senseless consumption, but a "siege" under strategic guidance. With a clear strategy, you will clearly understand that some cities do not need to be attacked, and some cities must be attacked. At this time, you will no longer attack the city when you see it, but selectively and strategically attack the city.
The city that must be attacked is because it has a bearing on the overall situation of the entire strategy, serves the needs of strategy, and is a place where soldiers and families must contend, which itself has strategic significance. Just like the Red Army must lay down Loushan Pass in the Long March, must conquer Lazikou, and must fly to capture the Luding Bridge. Because this is a matter of life and death for you and the organization, it is a tough battle for strategic needs. Such a siege itself has the impact of the overall strategic situation. By capturing a city like this, you open up a strategic situation. Therefore, such a city must be opened with all its might, even if it is necessary to pay a great price for it.
At key nodes, key areas, and critical stages, you will always encounter times when you have to fight. At this time, we must fight decisively, resolutely, at any cost, and we must win it, because such a battle has a bearing on the overall strategic situation and your ultimate destiny.
So, the real competition is all-round competition. Managers are often faced with competing on four levels at the same time. Good managers can't ignore competence at any level.
Excellent managers must not only have the ability to plan foresight, but also have the ability to integrate resources in a vertical and horizontal manner, but also have the ability to be flexible and flexible, and also have the ability to attack strong points at critical moments.
It's just that you must remember that all your sieges must be under strategic guidance, not reckless, not needless consumption.
In this figure, we can also draw a diagonal line from the upper right corner to the lower left corner. Above the slash, the emphasis is on winning by strategy and wisdom; below the slash, it is more about relying on strength and resources to win.
Sun Tzu studied war, but he jumped out of the limits of war. He was concerned with how to transcend war, beyond simple, direct, violent confrontation.
You may be in competition every day, but the master of competition must not only understand competition, but also know how to jump out of competition, surpass competition, understand and grasp competition from a higher level, so as to continuously improve the level of their own competition.
What does the diagram above tell us? Only by constantly improving their own thinking dimension can managers more effectively achieve dimensionality reduction attacks on opponents.
5. Concluding remarks
At this point, you will probably understand why General Patton is General Patton and cannot be Eisenhower. Patton was of course a good general, but Eisenhower was the real commander-in-chief. It has been said that during the Normandy landings, Eisenhower, like a faceman, "brought together the British, the French and the Americans, and later the Russians, and then pushed them before Hitler." ”
What impressed me most about "General Patton" was the rivalry between Patton and Montgomery in England. A good general, of course, must have a competitive spirit, and a strong competitive spirit has made General Patton. But being too competitive limits General Patton's big picture view. So Patton is just a good general, not a good commander.
From the perspective of self-improvement of managers, when you first enter the workplace, you often fight for your personal profession and skills, and with good professional skills, you can gain a foothold in society. The next thing to fight is your interpersonal relationships, coordination ability, resource integration ability, you must achieve others, in order to better achieve yourself. And what managers ultimately fight is your vision, pattern, and mind.
Back to Sun Tzu's "Shangbing Plot". "Planning" means foresight, which is what we often talk about today as "starting with the end." What is "beginning with the end"? You have never looked at the present, and you have never looked at the future from the present, which is completely different. Looking at the future from now, your vision will inevitably be limited to the competition for resources in front of you, and your eyes are full of your competitors. General Patton even regarded allies like Montgomery as rivals for honor. But never look at the present, you focus on how to create the big picture of the future. You will find that even the immediate competitors can be included in the overall situation of your co-creation of the future and used for you. Just as Eisenhower could have incorporated the Russians into his own system of war.
At this time, what is important is no longer the zero-sum competition of existing resources in the original spatial sense, but the ability to jointly create the future in the unknown field in the sense of time. Your opponent is no longer anyone else, your only opponent is actually yourself, your ability to continuously grow and improve yourself.
Looking to the future from now, you can at most become a Patton-esque general. Never look at the present, you can become the real Eisenhower style commander.
"Soldiers cut down plots" and "start with the end". You also jump out of the immediate competition and enter the realm of "total victory" as Sun Tzu called.
How do you get into that? Welcome to the BiMBA Business School of The Northern Development Institute to study and start your journey of self-improvement.
Gong Yuzhen
■ Professor of Management, National Institute for Development Studies, Peking University, Vice Dean of BiMBA Business School, Academic Director of EMBA Program. Professor Gong Yuzhen's main research areas are the national development strategies of major countries, leadership and competition strategies in uncertain environments, strategic culture and strategic behavior, and leadership in Chinese culture.