“There are five character flaws that are dangerous for a general. If he is reckless, his men can be killed. If he is cowardly, his army can be captured. If he is short-tempered, he will react in anger. If he is self-important, he can be deceived. If he is attached to his men, he will hesitate at a crucial moment. These five flaws are certainly unfortunate for a general because they cause great destruction in war. These five flaws cause generals to fail and armies to die. Consider them well.”
Sun Tzu, The Art of War, (c. 480 BCE)
This translation is from The Art of War for Executives, by Donald G. Krause. These very wise words were written in China twenty-five centuries ago. They remain utterly relevant to corporate Kenya in 2007.
A reckless boss will expose his people to unnecessary danger. In the business world, as opposed to the military battleground, that danger is not necessarily to life and limb. It is rather the danger of career damage, of failure, of rejection by customers and peers. Irresponsible bosses make too many wild bets and take on too many battles simultaneously. So beware the reckless leader.
A cowardly boss cannot make the hard decisions that are needed in the business. This boss avoids conflict, even when it is entirely necessary. He accommodates and appeases, he takes the easier route. A timid leader is easy to defeat: he will always crack under pressure, and his people will know it. So beware the cowardly leader.
A short-tempered leader is easily countered. Just light his fuse and watch him lose reason. A tetchy leader can’t contain his anger, and can’t channel it into a meaningful reaction. He will over-react, and show his hand long before he needed to. When the red mist descends, his mind becomes fogged and his knee jerks uncontrollably. So beware the short-tempered leader.
A self-important leader is easy to deceive. His ego is everything, and playing to his ego gets you everything. This is a character flaw that can be spotted from a mile away, and clever players rub their hands with glee when they see it. The conceited CEO is always surrounded by sycophants and yes-women. He is always undone by flattery. So beware the self-important leader.
An overly attached boss can’t see the big picture. His emotional mien places feeling above logic, and he will spend too much time protecting his people. Detachment is important in a leader: it allows for uncluttered thinking. A detached leader is not afraid to make changes in personnel whenever that is for the good of the army. A too-friendly boss will wring his hands for years. So beware the emotional leader.
If your boss is irresponsible, spineless, irritable, haughty AND too close, then you are clearly doomed along with your organisation. Fortunately, most leaders do not posses these five qualities together; they are usually unbalanced by one of them. If the flaw is minor and the leader follows the advice of that other sage of the same era, Socrates (”know thyself”), then it can be corrected and the leader may go on to great things. If the flaw is deep and the leader unaware of it, trouble will follow.
So use Sun Tzu to see your leader, and yourself, in a new light in 2008.
www.sunwords.com
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10 Responses:
March 21st, 2008 at 2:09 pm
Guys, guys,
No ned to get tetchy about such a simple matter - as Joseph put it (and I’m sure he’s the closest to a CEO any of us contributors are), just look at the statistics - most CEOs who are lugging the heaviest loads and succeeding at it are from an Accounting/Finance background, not because you need to be a CPA or CFA to be one, but because you need to possess understanding of thw whys and wherefores of company finances, be it purchasing, marketing etc. Mostly the common man has limited knowledge of such stuff, hgence the need for CPAs/CFAs/ACCA bl;ah blah. It all goes back to our standards of education - why isn’t the basic business education we go over in Form 1 & 2 enough to enable us understand the basic nitty-gritties of company finance?? Over to you Sunny
January 22nd, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Being a business head (read manager-entrepreneur), i appreciate all the roles played by the different functions in the business BUT the very existence of a profit making business is determined by sales.
Without sales, all other functions are not needed. Marketing goes a long way to pave the way for sales to happen, though not always in a direct or tangible way.
Of necessity, most CEOs of growing companies come from a sales background, but in established companies, there is a case of shareholder value and cost cutting, hence finance types may make it to CEO. For long lasting success, growth must be organic and not achieved only through cost cutting in finance.
A leader therefore is one who can continuosly articulate, strategize, renew & qualify the product or service value over time while avoiding making the mistakes as listed by Sun Tzu. Incidentally, arent financial CEOs just managers (distinct from leaders :-))?
PS. A wonderful tome on leadership: Winning by Jack Welch.
December 27th, 2007 at 8:22 pm
I recall when the Pontiac solstice one of the first vehicles that started Generals Motors recovery was unveiled; one of the headlines read something akin to “how did they ever get this car past the bean counters”.
If you get too many of these “Einsteins” together especially in the senior management they start to think that the company’s mission statement is provide great accounting/finance and purchasing, not goods or services. This is what happened to many us auto manufactures where the purchasing and finance guys got too much power resulting in cost cuts in product development and manufacturing. This premise of costs first as opposed to cars (product) first; the results were cars so ugly that a new design Czar brought in to turnaround one of them said that their vehicles looked like angry kitchen appliances.
When was the last time that the “enlightened” folks in accounting, finance and purchasing created an innovative product or service like apples ipod or a service like Google?
I am still left wondering what Sun Tzu’s thoughts would have been on the giving the general responsible for the livestock used to feed the troops control of the battle filed? Cant you see him trying to convince the cavalry to ride pigs instead of horses because pigs could be both “ridden” and eaten, hey half the hay would be required. Surely the imperial treasury would be proud.
December 26th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
I’m not quite sure why this has become a Finance v Marketing debate. Sun Tzu was referring to ‘generals’ rather than silo managers…
December 26th, 2007 at 4:12 pm
Well Jane I agree with you, this Observer is observing the wrong things…or none at all, he reminds me of a basic pyramid of how skills are needed in any organisation, from shop floor(technical) to abstract and conceptual as you go up the ladder in the hierarchy.
I come from an accounting and finance background and for some one to speak of frustration by the “idiots” in finance, the least is to understand what motivates their decisions, and take a holistic picture of the organisation and the synergies expected. Even the marketers (naturally I wouldn’t have a soft spot for them) play a role. Recently I sat in for three months for a Supply Director in a company that spends more than $400 million a year in purchases, and I appreciated the role the “buyers” play in the value chain of any organisation. Every action they do has an impact on the quality (what the marketers sell), raw materials (what the Observer calls makers of the “stuff”) and finally what the accountants pursue in terms debtors. Without an understanding of the different synergies an organisation needs, and how parts interact to form the whole, an organisation can’t function.
Lastly, research has shown that more than 25% of CEO’S in the FTSE top companies in the UK come from the accounting and finance background. Even in Kenya, top CEO’S like Adan at Barclays, Mahinda at EABL, Jimnar at Dyer and Oduor Otieno at KCB all sign off their names with CPA or CA! This is not a coincidence…the bottom line is maximising shareholder value and we get it easily and better!!! The article by Sunny focussed on leadership, a capstone quality for CEO’S, and they should see them in new light in 2008!
Wishing you a prosperous new year!
December 24th, 2007 at 3:16 pm
I am delighted to see Sun Tzu provoking a fervent debate 25 centuries after he (there is some debate about whether ‘he’ existed as a person) left the planet!
December 23rd, 2007 at 4:06 pm
Haha, dear Observer I like your use of language. For us in purchasing tracking our contribution to the bottom line is quite simple but for those in marketing the jury is still out on what propotion of marketing spend translates to income from sales. My little knowlege of accounting advises that one of the key aspects of any organisation is cash flow! Accountants ‘frustrate’ the rest of us as they watch this flow (just like the CBK and banks) - where would your large contract to supply 4 million worth of auto parts be if the organisation was unable to work the machinery for this job, as scheduled over the weekend, because due to cash flow constraints the elec bill of 100,000 was not paid and power is out from Friday through to Monday mid day! For any organisation’s strategy to succeed, everyone’s contribution is equally important, if the mission & vision are understood by every employee then inter-departmental dis-satisfaction would be rare. That is what is repeatedly taught on the MBA!
December 21st, 2007 at 3:52 pm
Jane,
Good one, I am of the opinion that the most important folks in a company are the folks the make the stuff and those that sell the stuff. The rest of the company is all in a supporting role. They should exist purely to make these folks job easer and better.
My experience has been that, to the “idiots” in finance and purchasing 30K is 30K. There is no difference between on its being spent on cleaning supplies for the Janitor or a strategic future program. Look at us auto industry; it’s a classic example of what happens when the inmates in finance (Ivy League MBAs) and purchasing take over the asylum. That quarterly bottom line mentality is always very short sighted and bound to come back to bite you in the you know what.
Sun Tzu should or may have written something about colonels that are only preoccupied with either the cavalry or the archery divisions without a greater understanding of what it takes to win a war.
December 21st, 2007 at 11:12 am
There are never any idiots in purchasing! You must be in marketing - as everyone knows it is not your very expensive marketing campaigns that pad our bottom line but it is, without a doubt, the cost saving procurement intervention in them that adds the greatest value.