Applying the AoW Principles in the Real World

Governor Jerry Brown has been known as a major implementer of the Art of War (AoW) principles.

The Process

In his past political campaigns, Governor Brown and his team usually assessed the big picture within his grand terrain and the massive participants within it. Once the situation and the prevailing influences are recognized, they examined the advantages and the disadvantages and then quietly adjusted to the relevant points with solid planning and preparation.

This practice of the process has put Jerry Brown into a strategic position of near-political invincibility.

During the 2010 campaign, Jerry Brown consistently displayed the political image of wisdom, benevolence, credibility, discipline and courage while adjusting to the political voice of his terrain.

At the end, he was able to win back his old job as the Governor of California, with minimum effort from the competition.

Then and Now

Governor Brown is currently trying to influence his fellow politicians and his constituents on the benefits of his tax extension measure. Getting the votes behind it while countering the argument of the possible drawbacks has been a grinding challenge for him

Photo from Artofwarchess.com

Ruminations from the Compass Desk

The key to strategic success is to understand the Big Tangible Picture (BTP) in terms of the prevailing influences (political, economic, social, etc.).

There are many approaches to viewing the BTP. Some people prefer to see it from a result-oriented outcome view. Others would rather look at it in terms of different categories (i.e., the civil factors, the martial factors, the leadership, the tactical essentials and the tactical specifics.) Whether they can connect those categories of data together and see the risk-benefits and the risk-consequences, that is a different story.

Certain situations demand different view. It all depends on one's own skill and the specifics of that situation.

In our world of instantaneous demand, the only thing that counts is the results. Whether the people are able to achieve their ends is a different story.

Side note

Interestingly, there are some strategic implementers who prefer to espouse the virtue of the Art of War principles by using one or two principles (from a pool of 360+ principles) at a time.

Serious strategy professionals usually prefer to read the Seven Strategy Classics (Seven Military Classics of Ancient China). It gives them a grander perspective of the following points:

• grand strategic view;
• macro strategic view;
• operational strategic view; and
• tactical strategic view.

In our future posts, we will elaborate on how to connect those points into one big tangible picture.

The Art of the Focus (8): Stop and Become Aware.

A strategy usually would not work if you and/or your team is not focused on the big picture and the components within it. One cannot just think about being focused. (Just like one cannot think that he becomes a leader and therefore he/she becomes a leader. That "new age" type of thinking does not work with us.) Pragmatically, it is a repeated practice of centering, focusing, experiencing, reflecting and reviewing. .

One learns how to become focused by understanding how to center him or herself through the feel of wholeness. It is important to slow down and stop. Stand and slowly observe one's surroundings. After awhile, one begins to become aware of oneself, one's own surroundings and the terrain. Many hours of this unique practice allows one to operate steady and instinctively. Instead of concentrating oneself on a target like a light from flashlight, he/she starts to focus like a laser beam pinpointed on a target.

There is no real magic ritual to this unique practice. It is the practice that requires many hrs of practice. Ancient daoists believed that it is what propels the other practices..

The Origin of the Way

The way begets one;

One begets two;

Two begets three;

Three begets the myriad creatures.

The myriad creatures carry on their backs the yin and embrace in their arms the yang and are the blending of the generative forces of the two.

There are no words which men detest more than 'solitary', 'desolate', and 'hapless', yet lords and princes use these to refer to themselves.

Thus a thing is sometimes added to by being diminished and diminished by being added to.

What others teach I also teach.

'The violent shall not come to a natural end.'

I shall take this as my precept.

- Dao De Jing, 42 (D.C. Lau translation)

Our hardcore martial art associates believed in this category of practice and performs it daily. For more information, you can learn more about this unique practice from the following sites: Cook Ding's Kitchen, Smiling Tiger.net, ChinafromInside.com, The Wushucentre.net and Emptyflower.net

“In order to await the disordered; in tranquility awaits the clamorous. This is the way to control the mind.” -AoW 7

It does not matter if the strategic players are Sunzi enthusiasts, John Boyd's OODA fanatics, Clausewitz's zealots, Game Theory's practitioners or Blue Ocean's extremists. A team can only build, connect and lead with almost any strategic approach if they are focused from the start. ... Whether they can prevail with it, that is a different story.

The Big Picture: The Global Economy

Money moves around the globe. It does not always disappear. ... We presumed a different set of global players has it now. They are playing with it at a different venue and at a different pace. ... Sooner or later, a portion of the money will somehow return to its place of origin.

#

Britain has 'no money left'

2010-05-17 19:05

London – The scale of the economic challenge facing Britain's new government was laid out in a one-sentence letter, left by a minister who said: "There's no money left", it emerged on Monday.

David Laws, newly appointed chief secretary to the Treasury under Prime Minister David Cameron's new coalition government, described to reporters how he had been left the note by his predecessor Liam Byrne.

"When I arrived at my desk on the very first day as chief secretary, I found a letter from the previous chief secretary to give me some advice, I assumed, on how I conduct myself over the months ahead," Laws recalled.

"Unfortunately, when I opened it, it was a one-sentence letter which simply said 'Dear Chief Secretary, I'm afraid to tell you there's no money left', which was honest but slightly less helpful advice than I had been expecting."

Britain's new Conservative-Liberal Democrat government, which took power last week after elections on May 6, has promised to tackle the country's record deficit as a priority and will unveil an emergency budget on June 22.

- AFP

http://www.news24.com/World/News/Britain-has-no-money-left-20100517