Learning How to Assess a Chaotic Situation From a Classic Samurai Movie (Sanjuro)

(updated on 05.05.14, 5:55 hrs)

Kurosawa's Sanjuro is a very good movie for those who are interested in learning how to assess (or read) a situation in terms of its configuration. 

Abstract 

Toshiro Mifune plays Sanjuro, a ronin who saves a group of young samurai from being slaughtered by a high political official and then began to mentor them on possessing the right set of information before consummating any strategic decision. (The storyline is slightly more complex than what is being described here.)

Throughout the movie,  he indirectly advised them to do the following steps: 

• Assess their situation patiently with the tangible truth; 
• Sort through the information; and 
• Act on rational logic not on emotional impulse. 

This grand lesson was repeated many times.

Scenes From the Movie

• Board meeting
• Just Giving Me Some Money
• Staking Out the Enemy
• Three Cats and A Tiger
• Two Unsheathed Swords

In each of the mentioned scenes, he assisted the samurais on identifying their objective with the given information, instead of pursuing a objective without zero information by constantly reminding them to patiently study the configuration of each situation by focusing on a set of particular factors and items before concluding a decision.

Throughout the movie, Sanjuro  almost always made quality decisions- except for the choice of the Komyo Temple for his story and the picking of the flowers at the wrong time (for the purpose of signaling his group of samurai to raid the targeted house). 

At the near conclusion of this movie, this group of novice samurai finally learned the lesson of making good strategic decisions by being self-patient. 

The Dao of Decision Management 
There are a few good lessons for the budding chief decision makers: 

Self Control

Mutsuta's wife: You're too sharp. That's your trouble. You're like a drawn sword. Sharp, naked without a sheath. You cut well. But good swords are kept in their sheaths. 

Gathering Intelligence 

Sanjuro emphasized the lesson of gathering and assessing information. 

Instead of vaulting into an uncertain tactical situation, the smart strategist must ensure that he/she have the right set of information before ever concluding a tangible decision.

Diverting and Deceiving

There were also a few good examples of misdirection ("divert to deceive" tactics) in this movie. Each example begins with the chief decision makers who are operating with incomplete information..

A Compass Insight 
Whenever, one is not focused  on their current task-objective while not being mindful of their setting and beyond, the probability of errors will definitely rise.

In a chaotic setting, remember that good swords are kept in their sheaths

Minor Jotting
                            

Source 

Sugino is the man with a beard who trained Toshiro Mifune in the way of the sword for the movie Yojimbo and  Sanjuro.

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Making Strategic Decisions Without Borders (1)

Some of the current trends are the white collar professionals telecommuting and video conferencing from their home and various public locales. They are also having group meetings at coffee shops. Seriously, it is nothing new. The hot trend is the increase of empty office buildings in the metropolitan cities and more free lancers. Due to the current recession, we expect this development of I/T automation and off-shored labors to continue.

With the increase of free lancers and outsourcing, what are the chances of a project finishing on time, on budget and according to specifications?

We expected the rate of more project teams being unable to hit this macro goal. It will incrementally increase. In a future post, I will discuss why that point will be a trend.

We will also outline the pitfalls of remote project teams members who are collaborating at different time zones and what is our strategic solution.

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Many Workers Travel To Manhattan, But More Stay in Their Boroughs

By Sam Levin

July 30, 2010 | 5:21 p.m

Take that, Manhattan!

The Department of City Planning published on its Web site today its 182-page Peripheral Travel Study—in an extensive effort to identify opportunities for short and long term strategic plans to address transportation needs in the boroughs outside of Manhattan.

What the report finds is that, while a lot of New Yorkers commute from outside the island to Manhattan jobs, more stay in their outer boroughs. More than 880,000 city residents do commute from the four boroughs into Manhattan, but more than 1 million workers live and work in the same borough in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. (Borough commuters into Manhattan join 628,000 workers who reside in Manhattan and another 540,000 from outside the city).

Despite the "common perception that most workers are concentrated in the Manhattan Central Business District (CBD), the opposite is true," the report says.

Manhattan does have the greatest density of employment, and it does draw more workers from throughout the region than any other area. But more people live and work in the same borough than commute to any other. And excluding journeys to Manhattan, there were more than 323,000 interborough journeys-to-work, 44 percent of which where between Brooklyn and Queens.

Guess Manhattan isn't as popular as people thought?

Though The Observer did not read the entire report, it seems that an important finding is that in the outer boroughs, people tend to work relatively close to their residence, and among those that work close to home in the same study area, non-automotive travelling is most popular. Future public policy, the report recommends, should explore ways to encourage workers living and working in the same area to avoid using their cars.

Another interesting factoid, among those working and living in the same borough, the predominant transportation mode in trendy Brooklyn is "Other" (which includes walking, biking, taxi, motorcycle, and work at home).

In the same category in Queens and the Bronx, the primary mode is, unsurprisingly, auto.

What neighborhood wins for highest mean travel time (still excluding Manhattan residents)? Sorry, Southeast Queens (48 minutes!), but that's what you get for being so far away from major subway lines!

Fort Greene and Bay Ridge have the shortest mean travel times for work commutes—38.8 minutes—the study says.

What do these findings actually mean? The study says, "More than 300,000 people travel daily between the boroughs (other than Manhattan) to work. The automobile dominates this travel. Nevertheless, there may be opportunities to expand the use of alternative modes."

Travel between Brooklyn and Queens has potential for growth, the study says. "These boroughs are adjacent and both bus service and bicycle improvements should be explored."

Automobiles, though aren't going anywhere soon. The study says in its conclusion, "Workers are coming from diverse locations which, at least to date, have made the automobile the most attractive means of commuting for many people."

slevin@observer.com

http://www.observer.com/2010/politics/many-workers-travel-manhattan-more-stay-their-boroughs