Rewriting Sun Tzu's The Art of War



Posted: Tuesday, October 05, 2010

by Brace Barber
Patrol Leader Press, Inc.

I did not set out to rewrite Sun Tzu's The Art of War. In fact, I was bored by his writings. I started reading The Art of War when I was a 20 year-old senior at West Point. I thought the teaching was shallow and simple. I actually put it down after only a few pages. However at the age of 40, when a friend gave me a copy, I found that the teaching came alive. The 20 years of experience between the first reading and the second, acted as the preparation of the soil of my mind for the planting of the seeds necessary to understand The Art of War. Or, in other words, I was beat upside the head enough times.

My journey through the military, as an employee, and later as an author and business owner, has never been a smooth upward curve. I have had the fortune, though I did not see them that way at the time, to have suffered many lows. Good times never demand the depth of introspection and soul searching that tough times do. Tough times demand that we utilize limited resources in order to overcome obstacles to achieve success; all while we are upset, anxious and fearful. We cannot apply our limited resources hastily or in a cavalier manner, and of course, in order to be most efficient, planning and strategy are necessary. Sun Tzu's The Art of War provided a list of proverbs that I immediately saw illuminating my struggles and putting meat to the principles I had tried to use in planning over the previous two decades. All of a sudden, I saw a framework for doing something that we are all involved in at one time or another, and which we do very poorly. I saw the way for consistently overcoming obstacles.

Seeing the substance of The Art of War is different from gaining the benefit of it. It is like having a key to a safe deposit box with millions of dollars in it, but not knowing how to insert the key. It is not as simple as it sounds. I naturally set off to figure out the key. At first, I made large amounts of notes in the margins of the book and then in an accompanying notebook. I started to see a pattern emerge, but it was such a mess of intersections, nuances and meanings that I decided to start the book over. I decided to rewrite The Art of War.

My nature is to reorganize. Some people take over an office and leave everything in the same place. I am the guy who rearranges the furniture, phones and computers so that they fit me. I rewrote The Art of War so that it fit me. However, since I was able to take into account The Art of War's original intent as a military document and also make the translation to corporate strategy, the rewriting gained greater color. My simultaneous study of the Army's multi-criteria decision-making process made the new book even more relevant to me personally, and I found, more significant for the practitioner of strategy. And though I originally did not intend to write a book on the subject or even present the reorganization that I created, I was most definitely moved to create a tool for my own use with my clients.

I work one-on-one with clients to help them navigate the hazards of solving very complex problems and then the development of a stable course of action. If you look at the decision-making process in a flowchart format you start with Receiving and Analyzing the Mission, and you end with the Selection of a Course of Action. A major chunk in the heart of that process is the development of the course of action, analysis of the courses of action, and comparison of the courses of action. The Art of War in its entirety is designed to guide the development, the analysis, and the selection of a course of action. However, you cannot use it effectively or accurately unless and until it is reorganized under the proper topics, many of which were identified and included by Sun Tzu himself. You should see now why the decoding of the key became a personal mission.

I completed the new book after two years of work and used it privately for another three. In early, 2011 the rewritten The Art of War will be released with the title, "Sun Tzu's Pattern of Power, The Art of War Organized for Decision Making." This reorganization is a standalone product. I have no doubt that anyone who has enjoyed and used The Art of War will gain incredible new insight into the prioritization of the teaching. The intent of the book is to make The Art of War understandable and practical for accurate use by today's leaders. -- Brace E. Barber is the CEO of Decipherst, Inc., a material technology company operating in the defense and aerospace markets. He a director and former CEO for M9 Defense, Inc. and was the President of Tax Recovery Group, Inc. Brace is a 1987 graduate of West Point. http://www.stubbypencildecisionmaking.com Decision Making

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Author's URL: http://www.stubbypencildecisionmaking.com/rewritingsuntzustheartofwar.html

Sun Tzu's Decision Making
Brace E. Barber is the CEO of Decipherst, Inc., a material technology company operating in the defense and aerospace markets. He a director and former CEO for M9 Defense, Inc. and was the President of Tax Recovery Group, Inc. Brace is a 1987 graduate of West Point. Decision Making
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