The Art of War
The Art of War, by Sun Tzu is an ancient Chinese military writing, dating back to the 5th century BCE. The Art of War has been used by East Asians, Southeast Asians, French, and English for centuries and millennia and is highly regarded as one of the most influential strategy texts on warfare. [1]
Before being appointed as minister to the King of Wu, Sun Tzu was placed in charge of 180 concubines and required to turn them into soldiers. He first appointed two of these women to commanders and began work with the soldiers-in-training. But when Sun Tzu gave orders, the women only giggled in response. Trying again with no different results, Sun Tzu executed the two commanders, setting an example for the rest of the women. After the executions, the remaining women were able to perform their duties as demanded.
In each chapter, Sun Tzu describes a different set of skills related to warfare from planning, fighting, and attacking to maneuvering, and spying. In recent years, a plethora of writings have been done on The Art of War and its application to business, leadership, sports, politics, etc. Vincent Gagliano’s The Art of War Simplified is one of many examples.[2]
As I read The Art of War, I struggled to find applications in my context, as its primary focus is how to defeat one’s enemies. In today’s context, that could be actual enemies, but could also be business competitors, sports competitors, etc. However, working in the Bible translation movement, a highly collaborative environment amongst various organizations, we work hard to fight against competition, and certainly don’t view each other as enemies.
So how does the Art of War apply to ministry contexts? In C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters, readers receive a masterpiece of insight into the spiritual powers at work and the schemes of the real enemy. [4] I am unsure if C.S. Lewis ever read the Art of War, but he certainly came to some of the same conclusions as Sun Tzu.
Gagliano describes one of Sun Tzu’s keys to victory over the enemy in this way, “Know the enemy and yourself, and you can confidently fight the battle. Know yourself but not your foe, and your chance of sinning is halved. Know neither, and you will always lose.” [5]
For those who are in Christ, we know that our real enemy is described in Ephesians 6:12:
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. (NIV)
Aside from applying The Art of War to the spiritual realm, I contemplated how this applies in my ministry context and those I work with. I found the most application in regards to planning, tactics, and execution. I am the director of partnerships for a SIL International and am frequently engaged with requests from a variety of partner organizations. My organization has several thousand staff, so getting things done within such a large organization can be difficult to accomplish for an outsider. My team is responsible for hearing the partner’s needs and ideas for collaboration, and helping them engage with the right people, at the right levels within our organization. Essentially, we exist to unite SIL with organizations aligned with our mission.
In my current and previous roles, I have come to see the benefit from through planning as well as the futility in work that has poor planning, resulting in poor execution. One helpful tool in strategic planning is the Playbook, developed by Patrick Lencioni in The Advantage [6]. Lencioni encourages leaders to develop a Playbook and answer the following questions:
- Why do we exist?
- How do we behave?
- What do we do?
- How will we succeed?
- What is most important, right now?
- Who must do what?
Answering these simple questions requires thoughtfulness and planning but will set up a team or organization for successful execution. The Playbook exercise can be explored through Lencioni’s website www.tablegroup.com and playbook template. [7]
In summary, I enjoyed the Art of War, and think it still has application today and even in ministry contexts.
References
[1] Sun Tzu. The Art of War. Translated by Thomas F. Cleary. Boston, Mass London: Shambhala, 2005.
[2] Gagliano, Vincent, and Sun-tzu. The Art of War Simplified. Aspire Publishing Hub LLC., 2022.
[3] Bradford, Alfred S., and Pamela M. Bradford. With Arrow, Sword, and Spear: A History of Warfare in the Ancient World. Westport, Conn: Praeger, 2001.
[4] Lewis, C. S. The Screwtape Letters: And Screwtape Proposes a Toast. Annotated edition. First edition. New York: HarperOne, An Imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, 2013.
[5] Gagliano, 18.
[6] Lencioni, Patrick. The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business. 1st ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2012.
[7] https://files.tablegroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/19141103/AdvantageDevelop_a_Playbook.pdf
About the Author
Christy Liner
12 responses to “The Art of War”
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Christy, great minds think alike 🙂 I have always wanted to read The Art of War and so blogged it also. We also took a similar line. Great work connecting it with Lewis and Lencioni.
As a small tangent, how do you balance the principles of The Art of War—i.e. defeating enemies—with the collaborative and kingdom-centred mission of your work?
Hi Glyn, I enjoyed your post. I sometimes struggle with the balance. But in any conflict especially, I remind myself that there are greater powers at work that want to bring disunity amongst the body, and the person isn’t my real enemy.
Hi Christy, Thanks for your point about knowing your enemy. I am reminded of Jeff’s insight (in blog this week) about being able to articulate both sides of an issue. Employing your imagination – what constitutes the primary arguments of “the powers of this dark world and …the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” to persuade humanity away from choosing to follow Jesus?
It certainly seems like the enemy knows humanity well, doesn’t it? Satan and his demons know what will lure us to sin and destruction. With as much as the enemy knows about us, I wonder if we ought to know as much about the enemy?
Christy,
I find it so interesting that they wanted women to serve as soldiers. How long did it take for our military to accept women; only recently have they been allowed on the front lines. I do wonder about the two women who were executed. Did their execution only serve as an example or were those two concubines controlling the others in some manner and their execution actually set the other women free? The book may not touch on that, but I am wondering in your context, have you seen where one or two persons seem to set the tone for everyone else? If so, has that been addressed?
I don’t know enough about the concubines to answer, however, I have seen where just a few can set an example for all. It reminds me of Jack Welch and how he would fire the bottom 10% every year. When I worked in a for-profit company, we had a similar culture. It certainly raised the bar for all the staff. There were other downsides to this culture, but I know from experience that an example can be set by just a few to send a message to everyone remaining.
Hi Christy,
During the Discovery Phase last year, I referenced this book, “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu for my NPO paper. It took me forever to finish it. The text is divided into 13 chapters, each focusing on a different aspect of warfare. Which was your favorite chapter(s) and why?
I found the most application to planning (chapter 1). As I was reading the book, I found many practical applications to my work today and how I can plan better for success. What was your favorite chapter?
Hi Christy, Thank you for choosing a text I have always wanted to read but have never gotten around to! I really appreciated the commentary you provided from Gagliano, “Know the enemy and yourself, and you can confidently fight the battle.” Concerning your work, what have you discovered about yourself that has helped you continue to ‘fight the battle’?
Hi Elysse,
I work in partnerships, and I have noticed that sometimes people know our organization very well, but struggle to know our partners well. As a result of this, we will occasionally present an opportunity to the partner that is not in their wheelhouse of speciality, and therefore we will fail to secure funding or other aspects of the partnership. Knowing our partners is so critical for mutual success.
Hi Christy, I like your mention of Lencioni. While I haven’t read this book, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team is equally beneficial as your comments makes The Advantage sound. By utilizing the questions Lencioni asks, have you seem useful results?
Hi Diane,
I have found The Advantage to be very helpful, especially the Playbook. There are other tools that may give you similar benefits – I’ve used One Page Strategic Plan before and found it beneficial. Either way, having some tool that aligns your organization/team and is simple so everyone can understand and use as a north star for decision making is a game changer.