Zhang Liang is one of our favorite examples of professional strategists who failed early and made successful comebacks. He resided between the final period of the Qin dynasty (221 to 206 BCE ) and the earlier years of the Han dynasty (206 BCE to 220 CE).
Three of his many strategic trademarks were:
- Strategizing the threads of multiple operations into one Big Tangible Picture;
- Controlling any strategic operation from many thousands miles away; and
- Gaining cooperation and collaboration from a diversity of principals
Birth and origin of Zhang Liang
Zhang was born in Chengfu (present-day Chengfu Town, Bozhou, Anhui). He descended from an aristocrat family in the Hán state of the Warring States Period. His grandfather served three generations of the Hán rulers as chancellor while his father served two generations. Zhang missed the opportunity to inherit his family's legacy as the Hán state was annexed by the Qin state in 230 BC as part of Qin's wars of unification.
Assassination attempt on Qin Shi Huang
To avenge the fall of his native state, Zhang dedicated his efforts to hire assassins to kill Qin Shi Huang. He spent his entire family fortune and failed to give his deceased younger brother a proper funeral. He managed to find a man with great physical strength to help him, and had an iron hammer weighing 120 ancient catties (roughly 67 lbs. or 30 kg) forged for the strongman. In 218 BC, Zhang heard that Qin Shi Huang was going to Yangwu County (present-day eastern Yuanyang County, Henan) as part of his inspection tour, and was due to pass by Bolangsha during the journey.
Zhang and the strongman lay in ambush at Bolangsha and waited for the emperor's convoy to approach. Zhang saw that all the carriages that passed by were pulled by four horses[1] and believed that the most decorated one in the middle was the emperor's carriage. The strongman hurled the hammer towards it and the heavy projectile crushed the carriage, killing its occupant. Zhang fled from the scene during the ensuing chaos. Qin Shi Huang was actually not in that carriage and survived the assassination attempt, after which he issued an order for the arrest of Zhang. Zhang eluded the dragnet for ten days by using fake identities and became a fugitive.
Reflection Points
The two lessons that one can learned from Zhang Liang's misfortune are:
- Zhang Liang should have possessed better intelligence before making a strategic decision;.
- Zhang Liang should have carefully monitored this event from a safe remote site.
After extensively study of the Six Secret Teachings essay and other strategic classics, Zhang Liang learned the importance of the big tangible picture (btp) and later became the principal strategic advisor for Liu Bang, the future emperor of the Han Dynasty.
Zhang Liang continuously made quality strategic decisions and was an excellent collaborator with the other strategic advisors of Liu Bang. He always credited the people who presented valid ideas to the court of Liu Bang.
We will talk more about the life of Zhang Liang and the Six Secret Teachings in future posts.
The Foundation of Our Compass AE Process
The Grandness of a Grand Objective Sometimes Determines the Comprehensiveness of the Risk.
- The scope of an objective usually determines the amount of difficulty and the extremity of the risk that a strategist would encounter.
The Completeness of the Information Determines the Risk and the Uncertainty of the Executed Intent.
- The quantity of quality information determines the quantity of risk and uncertainty.
The Quality of Information Determines the Quality of the Strategic Decision
- Regardless of the strategic venture, a good strategist should always maintain absolute control of the entire operation by constantly checking and reviewing the validity of the intelligence before deciding on any strategic moves. The smart strategist should never presume anything.
Those three grand points are some essential points behind our Compass AE process. We will present a specific test case that encompasses those three mentioned points in our future book.
Summary
Have you ever thought that your interpretation of quality information could be the reason behind the current state of your business?
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