Sun Tzu's The Art of War Plus The Art of Management: Sun Tzu's Strategy for Managers

Two books in one! The complete text of the only award-winning English translation of Sun Tzu's The Art of War plus a line-by-line adaptation for management called The Art of Management. Based on Gary Gagliardi's management use of Sun Tzu in building one of the Inc. 500 fastest growing companies in America and training scores of the world's best known organizations in Sun Tzu's competitive strategy. Designed to appeal to managers in any type of organization, The Art of War Plus The Art of Management uses Sun Tzu's proven strategy to address the leadership challenges of directing people, resources, quality, and continual improvement in a modern organization.

This is a work of translation, not only from the ancient Chinese to English, but from a military terminology to the language of modern management. It works because Sun Tzu wrote about competitive strategy as a battle of minds not weapons. However, as defined by Sun Tzu, competitive strategy is not a system of strategic planning as often envisioned by managers. Planning, in the sense of prioritizing a list of activities, works in controlled environments where you can know how others will respond to your decisions. Competitive strategy works in environments where your decisions collide with the decisions of others, creating conditions that no one planned.

Most managers are confused about the competition. This confusion often arises from two false dichotomies. The first is between competition and cooperation, thinking that since cooperation means working together, competition means working against others. The second false dichotomy is between competition and production, thinking that because production is productive, competition must be destructive. What people fail to see is that competition is essential to both cooperation and production.

Table of Contents
Foreword: Using Management Strategy 8 Introduction: Sun Tzu's Strategic System 16
1 Analysis 23
The Strategic Situation 25
2 Going to War 37
Taking Control 39
3 Planning an Attack 49
Preparing to Advance 51
4 Positioning 61
Advancing Solutions 63
5 Momentum 73
Process Innovation 75
6 Weakness and Strength 85
Problems and Opportunities 87
7 Armed Conflict 101
Internal Politics 103
8 Adaptability 115
Continuous Improvement 117
9 Armed March 125
Making Progress 127
10 Field Position 145
Best Practices 147
11 Types of Terrain 163
The Work Environment 165
12 Attacking with Fire 189
Attacking Cycle Time 191
13 Using Spies 201
Acquiring Information 203
Glossary of Key Strategic Concepts 214
Index of Topics in The Art of War 220

Reviews

"Gary Gagliardi is to be commended for the clarity and fluidity of his translation of The Art of War as well as for his skillful juxtaposition of the content with important issues in the contemporary business world as he focuses on the basic strategies and tactics of effective management... In terms of both Gagliardi's translation and analysis, his is a brilliant achievement."
ROBERT MORRIS, Morris & Associates, Five-Star Reviews, Ranked #10 among Amazon and Borders Top 100 Reviewers

"Two books in one, this retranslating of Sun Tzu's classic warfare text, The Art of War, runs side by side with Gagliardi's application of it to business...Both are excellent guides to their subject."
F. JOHN REH, About.com Guide to Management

"It is sheer genius to adapt Sun Tzu's The Art of War to provide a manual for management. I have a degree in history and have managed numerous businesses over the years, but Gary Gagliardi has brought everything together for the first time. He urges us to 'learn from the history of success.' With the winning philosophy of thousands of years on our side, we cannot go wrong!"
THOMAS FORTENBERRY, Editor, Publisher, Literary Judge, and Award-Winning Author, Mind Fire Press