The Art of War Metaphor

The first time I heard about Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, I was 18 and watching the video for the Oliver Stone film Wall Street at my girlfriend’s house. In the film, Michael Douglas plays Gordon Gecko, a Wall Street raider instructing his protégé Bud Fox, played by Charlie Sheen.

Early in the story, Gecko paraphrases The Art of War, “I don’t throw darts at a board. I bet on sure things. Read Sun Tzu, The Art of War. Every battle is won before it is ever fought.”

Later in the film, Bud demonstrates he is catching on by paraphrasing Sun-Tzu back to Gecko, “If your enemy is superior, evade him. If angry, irritate him. If equally matched, fight, and if not, split and reevaluate.”

Those lines stuck with me. But at 18, I wasn’t about to read a book on Chinese philosophy. I was more interested in the things the movie showed me success could buy, like a cell phone the size of a loaf of bread that allowed Gecko to call Bud from the beach and deliver the line, “money never sleeps, pal.”

Ten years later, I was working the phones selling commodities in Denver and my sales manager and mentor, quoted Sun Tzu. That was it, I went out and bought the book.

Why is this ancient text so "sticky" in business today? The Art of War is an instruction manual, each of its 13 chapters are independent lesson. The title is a memorable and elegant paradox. The word "art" evokes sophistication and beauty. The word "war" evokes brutality. Yet somehow these conflicting ideas complement each other in this context.

My CEO uses war metaphors all the time. When I first met him, he talked about our core product as the “sharpest point of our spear.” He defines our growth strategy as “land and expand” where we first have to establish a “beachhead.” New tools for our business become “arrows in our quiver.”

I am attracted to the war metaphor in business. I'm inspired me to work harder and longer on a project if I think of myself as being “in the trenches” shoulder to shoulder with my “brothers in arms” fighting for something great.

Business may be like war, in that success depends upon a great strategy, tactical execution and camaraderie but fortunately, it’s not life or death. As much as war metaphors stir and inspire me to action, I do occasionally remind myself that people at war are fighting for their lives. I’m fighting for a paycheck.