Sun Tzu People Management

Although we call it people management, in reality we cannot manage people. We only can manage time, space and resources. But we can lead, inspire and motivate people, and that's what people management is about in this course. 

Before we delve into Sun Tzu Art of War, let's know the 4 key differences between Eastern and Western values: Balance, Indirect, Wu Chang and Wu Wei

Sun Tzu Art of War is relevant for people management because we are all warriors, fighting within ourselves and with others

Who is Sun Tzu and what's so special about his book The Art of War?

Sun Tzu was born in the year 544 BCE in the state of Qi in ancient China. Sun Tzu went to the state of Wu in the south seek employment in the Wu's King palace as a military advisor. 

The Wu King put Sun Tzu to a test by giving him 180 women to train. Through the process of training, Sun Tzu revealed to us Leadership principles number 1 and 2. 

In the next 10 years, Sun Tzu used his strategies as outlined in his 5,900-word book and helped the Wu King won over numerous battles, notably against the state of Chu, who was a much bigger and stronger state than Wu. 

There are many mis-understandings about Sun Tzu Art of War. Some think that Sun Tzu advocates war and winning at all cost. In fact Sun Tzu recognizes that war is expensive, that's why he asked us to avoid war at all cost. 

Instead of fighting to win, Sun Tzu teaches us to 'win to fight'. This means that we don't go to the battlefield and try to out-win others, we win over ourselves first and be so good that when we go to the battlefield, we have already won.  This is the meaning of 'Win to Fight'. 

By far the biggest weapon that Sun Tzu promotes is mind, not mine. Sun Tzu wants us to win by strategy, not by struggle

This lecture includes a short video clip from the movie Peaceful Warrior, where it demonstrates what is being mindful, not mind full. 

Sun Tzu in the Art of War wants us to win with thinking, not fighting, to win with strategy, not struggles, and to win with mind, not weapons

This lecture rewards you with the top ways to apply Sun Tzu Art of War to your daily people management. 

Firstly, we don't fight with people, we fight to win people's hearts. There are many negative factors to deal with, plus many poaching from other companies. 

But the most important must be to win hearts without paying top dollar. This lecture reveals to you the 5 best practices in people management in line with Sun Tzu's idea of 'win to fight'

One of the most important lessons in Sun Tzu Art of War must be the 5 Factors that Determine the Outcome of Any Battle. 

This lecture rewards you with treasures that stay with you for a long time. Sun Tzu said that there are 5 factors that determine the outcome of any battle BEFORE the battle: Purpose, Climate, Support, Leadership and Methods 道天地将法 

The first factor is Purpose or 道, which is the Why of what you do. Purpose also means the cause worth fighting for.  It can also be the mission, vision and compelling reason. In people management, it is about alignment of people to your beliefs.

The second factor is Climate or 天 . Climate is also the atmosphere or spirit, and it is the people manager's job to create the right climate, which is a climate of motivation. 

In this lecture, we include a short video entitled 'Validation', where you can see first hand how a carpark attendant validate every driver. Enjoy! 

The Third Factor is Ground Support or 地

To Sun Tzu the leader draws his power from the support, the stronger the support, the stronger is the leader.  As long as the leader put his people's interest above his, he will be followed. 

The Art of War advises us to get a good position.  Always start high, says Sun Tzu, in his book.  During this lecture, you the student will be doing one exercise: to hit the target. From here you will appreciate the importance of position. 

The 4th factor is Leadership. Students will appreciate that Sun Tzu follows the Eastern value of leadership by example. 

In the book Art of War, there are 5 characteristics of a good leader. 

We also link Sun Tzu's concept to that of Lao Tzu, his contemporary, who said that a leader is best when people hardly knows that he exists. That is what a good people manager is about: be a good leader and yet not over-bearing. 

法 Methods is the 5th Factor to determine the outcome of any battle.

From this lecture, you will appreciate that governance, systems, policies, procedures and work flow are all 'methods' as described by Sun Tzu. 

You will also be rewarded with The 7 Considerations before any battle. Sun Tzu can predict victories via these 7 considerations:

1. Who has stronger purpose?
2. Which leader is more able?
3. Who has better advantages derived from Climate &  Ground?
4. Which team has discipline more rigorously enforced?
5. Which army is stronger?
6. On which side are the officers and men more highly trained?
7. In which army is there greater constancy of both reward and punishment?

In this lecture, I will explain how you too can win without fighting in your daily management of people. 

Instead of just setting Targets and KPIs for your team to achieve, focus on building a winning Vision that attracts ideas from your team..  You should also build so much desire into the Vision that your team will set their own goals and will even die to achieve them

However, Sun Tzu said that victory is the only option if we were to engage in wars. So in people management, we must win all the way, eg. if you set goals for your team, you must go all the way, accept no excuse for not hitting your goals.

The essence of Sun Tzu's principle is: it is best to subdue the enemy without fighting. So in people management it means we never force people to accept our ideas, instead we influence them to want to follow us willingly and happily.

I also reward you with 20 top ideas from my other course on how to win without fighting. Happy watching! 

You will learn what are the 5 Strategies of the Art of War. The first is Inner Knowledge. 

Sun Tzu said that if you know yourself and you know your opponent, in a hundred battles you will have no peril. But how many of us really know ourselves and the people we lead and manage? 

In this lecture let me reward you with a short video: how to know the frustrations and hopes of the young people today.  You'll be shocked to discover what you don't know about your people! 

You will be thrilled in this lecture as I will reward you with a simple exercise. At the end of the exercise, you will know something about yourself that you may not realise for ages! 

Indeed, we can apply inner knowledge to people management, like knowing the differences of people and yet work on the differences. 

By far the fastest way to know people is to have empathy.  This lecture rewards you with the simple yet powerful 3 F method. Enjoy! 

In warfare, high ground will accord you with advantages. Same in people management. We need to occupy the high ground, which could mean high ethical ground, high mental thoughts and high level of professionalism. 

The other Sun Tzu strategy is right timing. In people management, that could mean to shorten the process of persuasion by outlining the benefits before you ask people to do anything. 

But nothing beats fast timing. This lecture includes an entertaining video clip from the classic movie "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly".  Enjoy! 

Sun Tzu advocates efficiency, as wars are expensive and it is better to fight quick and win quickly, if not don't fight at all.

How do we apply this efficiency in people management? In this lecture, let me enlighten you on the power of asking questions. Through the use of cards, I will demonstrate to you how asking questions can get you what you want!

You would want to try out this exercise after this lecture. Enjoy! 

We now come to the meat of Sun Tzu Art of War.  In Chinese, it is called 兵不厌诈 , which simply means there is never enough of deception in war. 

You will learn from this lecture that Sun Tzu advocates moral principle as important, thus he would never teach us to deceive people. Sun Tzu wants us to change the perception to fulfil the purpose of helping people, and this is what he meant by deception. 

In people management, the biggest 'deception' must be to get people to do the impossible. This lecture comes with a bonus short video on how to do the impossible: cut wood with paper.  You'll realise from this lecture that 'impossible' simply means 'I'm possible'! 

You will be rewarded with the top 7 ways that people use deception in people management: Job Enrichment, Flexi-Time, Voluntary No-Pay Leave, Short Work Week, Promotion without Pay Increase, Use your own Devices and Delay in staff replacement

Sun Tzu's strengths is in turning adverse situations into advantage situations. In people management, we too need to turn people's weaknesses into strengths and sell their strengths too. 

This lecture also rewards you with the various ways that companies use deception every day to hide weaknesses and manage expectations. Enjoy! 

It has been mentioned several times in the book Art of War that the use of deception is common in warfare.

Unfortunately, Sun Tzu did not give us many tactics of deception, other than fires and the use of spies. 

It is important that we turn to another equally powerful book, called The Secret Art of War, more commonly known as The 36 Stratagems. 

This mysterious book was written over 1,500 years by numerous people.  It is said that such collection of Chinese wisdom provides us answers to all the problems in this world. Be enlightened with this fascinating short book The 36 Stratagems! 

Firstly, leadership is about getting more things done with the least resources. It is also about knowing people and making people better than themselves. 

Sun Tzu provides us with many useful strategies for leadership. This lecture recaps some of the important points. In fact some of my students claimed that this short but high impact lecture is worth more than 5,000 words! 

Ultimately, Sun Tzu is about complete victory, not just victory for the sake of victory. In the book, Sun Tzu said that is is better to take the entire nation intact, to break the nation is not wise. 

How do we apply this 'Take the Entire Nation' concept to people management?  'Entire Nation' would mean the body, mind, hearts and spirits of people.  Indeed, all people managers are managers of the mind, hearts and spirits. This lecture raps up our course on Sun Tzu People Management. Thank you for watching!