10 military strategy rules to use in your company
Before heading to the the strategy rules, I have to quote Tim Ferriss
“Life is not a problem that you have to solve, nor a game that you have to win.”
– Carl von Clausewitz
I don’t believe that planning a career, creating an organizational strategy or other kind of goal setting means abandoning all values and heading for the prize. Win for merely winning is like creating a company only for fast cash is not the message of this blogpost. On the contrary. Having a good strategy means everyone wins. Tactics for achieving goals or creating strategies have come from military or sports fields. There, the results are seen quickly and knowing where you heading is paramount. No wonder that the book of Sun Tsu “Art of War” is still a book suggested for managers and leaders. Clausewitz, the military leader and author of “Principles of War” has written down ten principles of war strategies that we can use in our business or life strategies. I have added my comments.
10 principles of military strategy
- Formulate your goal and focus on it. This principle can be adjusted to everything – when you don’t know where you are going,it is impossible to understand whether you are there, and value the outcome.
- Keep the spirit. Oftentimes when we work too hard we tend to forget why we are doing what we do. Keeping the spirit is important during difficult times so we would not give in.
- Act offensively. Take control, take charge of the situation. Of course there is no reason to attack a client or a possible employer, but you can take the first step to introduce yourself or your product.
- Seek to act unexpectedly, surprisingly. You can take it as a possibility to bring out the uniqueness of your company or your skills, but also a way to approach your target group. Differentiate and be memorable.
- Focused actions. In today’s world it is easy to get lost in working for many companies, alongside with having your own freelance activities plus voluntary activities. Nevertheless, when you are starting off or need to implement a change, focusing on one thing is important to getting it done and being very clear on the end result and focusing on only that will get you there far more quickly.
- Be sure your people are safe. Try not to hurt people around you nor yourself with your work.
- Use your military forces sparingly. Think through if and what you need, don’t spend what you don’t have and don’t overuse resources. Be sparing with yourself, your team so that the spirit would last until the goal has been achieved.
- Seek good coordination. Acting according to plan and being well coordinated saves resources and makes it possible for the team to be inline with each other and the goal. You will be able to analyse the situation and change strategies more easily.
- Be adaptive and flexible. Plan is not sacred and can be changed when needed. There are always things that come up after drafting the strategy, it is your skill to see it and adapt and make changes. Changes can be opportunities.
- Seek simplicity. Simple plans are easy to follow.
I wish you success in creating and following your strategies!
Persoonibrändi Agentuuri asutaja, persoonibrändi ja kommunikatioonijuhtimise nõustaja, ettevõtja, elustiili blogija. Minu fookuses on toetada neid, kes plaanivad tuua enda elus ja maailmas positiivseid muutusi, luua oma elu oma tingimustel. Teen seda läbi tervikliku persoonibrändi, mõjujõu avastamise ja vaimse treeninguga. Vabal ajal joon liiga palju kohvi, katsetan taimsete toitudega, päästan kasse ja tegelen raja-aerutamisega.
