The mysteries of great power games are all written in the Art of War.
Great power game, the key to victory lies in oneself
“Victory strengthens the victor.”
——The Art of War, The Operations Chapter
The Operations chapter of The Art of War does not discuss how to wage war, but rather the cost of war. War is costly, and the cost is incredibly high. Even if you can win, if you cannot afford it, do not fight.
Simply put, it's one sentence: Don't do anything that is not worth it. What do you want to gain, what can you gain; how much do you have to pay, and what could you potentially lose in extreme cases, all must be calculated clearly.
The Operations chapter contains five words, “Victory strengthens the victor,” which describes the purpose of battle and the standard for evaluating the results. Battle is not for victory, but to make oneself stronger. Because 'fighting' itself has no benefits, only disadvantages. Some people want to fight because they believe they can gain benefits, but we cannot fall into the mindset of 'fighting for the sake of fighting', but should always focus on ourselves, on whether we can become stronger.
The current hot topic, the so-called US-China “trade war”, if it is considered a 'war', there is no such thing as who wins or loses. The key is that we ourselves must become stronger.
The reason why Ren Zhengfei's speech resonated so strongly is because he cleared away the fog of thought for everyone and grasped the essence of things.
Don't win every battle, only to perish in defeat
“Prolonged warfare will exhaust the soldiers and blunt their weapons.”
——The Art of War, The Operations Chapter
If it takes too long to defeat the enemy, the soldiers will be exhausted and their fighting spirit will be lost. Because you will not only fight this one battle in your life, there will be many more battles to fight. If this battle consumes too much, there will be problems later.
Wei Wenhou once boasted to Li Ke about his numerous victories. Li Ke said, 'Your numerous victories will lead to the ruin of your state. Why? Because numerous battles exhaust the people, and numerous victories make the ruler arrogant. Leading exhausted people with an arrogant ruler, how can the state not perish?'
This means that after each victory, you become weaker, not stronger. In the end, one defeat, and you are finished. How many heroes, such as Xiang Yu, won countless battles, only to commit suicide at the Wu River in their final battle.
Don't use your employees or yourself for 'fatigue testing'
“Benevolent people love people and pity things.”
——The Art of War, The Operations Chapter
Cherish the people's strength. Many of our entrepreneurs today do not cherish the people's strength, using the spirit of struggle as a call to push employees to their limits.
Generally speaking, although the boss is older than everyone else, his spirit, enthusiasm, and physical strength are often stronger than everyone else's. Because when he stops working, he can immediately take a break, but others do not have this initiative.
Chinese people have always had a culture of obedience to superiors, accepting whatever comes their way. However, everyone has a limit of what they can bear. Once that limit is exceeded, they will choose to leave.
In mechanical engineering, there is a term called 'fatigue testing'. For example, a switch, how many times can it be switched before it fails? They conduct fatigue testing, constantly switching it on and off, until it fails at 80,000 times. The fatigue test data is obtained, 80,000.
Bosses, never use your employees for fatigue testing, and we should not use ourselves for fatigue testing either, until we die from overwork or develop depression.
The recent hot topic, 996, I think 996 is perfectly fine, absolutely righteous, true struggle. However, there are many 997s, with no rest days at all. That is fatigue testing, until there is no strength or morale left. This is something leaders must consider.
Nothing can be done 'at any cost'
“Prolonged warfare will exhaust the national resources.”
——The Art of War, The Operations Chapter
Long-term wars, countries don't have that much money, America doesn't have that much money either, they can't afford it.
In Chinese history, Emperor Wu of Han, who was most capable of waging war, inherited the unprecedented wealth accumulated during the reigns of Emperors Wen and Jing. As we learned in middle school history textbooks, the national treasury was overflowing with money, the ropes used to string the coins were rotten; the granaries were full, and the grain was piled outside, rotting. He then began to wage war, and eventually exhausted the national treasury and granaries, so he increased taxes, collecting poll taxes from males starting at the age of 3, instead of 16, to the extent that people killed their male infants after birth, because they had to pay taxes at the age of 3, and they couldn't afford it!
There is a history of female infanticide in China, but only during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han was there male infanticide. This money was not enough for him to wage war, so he collected existing resources, issuing the 'Suanbian' order, demanding that the rich pay property taxes. The rich were required to declare their property and pay taxes accordingly, and of course, they hid and underreported their assets. So Emperor Wu of Han issued the 'Gaobian' order, encouraging neighbors to report each other, with the informant receiving half of the reported person's property. As a result, nationwide reporting surged, and all middle-class and above families went bankrupt.
In other words, Emperor Wu of Han's 'prolonged warfare will exhaust the national resources' resulted in the bankruptcy of the entire country, from the government to the people, and half of the population died abnormally! By the time he died, the national population was only half of what it was when he ascended the throne! This is how terrifying war is.
Emperor Wu of Han, such a proud and arrogant person, also issued the 'Lun Tai Self-Reproach Edict' in his later years, saying: “Since I ascended the throne, my actions have been reckless and extravagant, causing suffering to the world, and there is no way to undo it. From now on, any actions that harm the people and waste the nation's resources will be abolished!” He gave himself a self-assessment of 'reckless and extravagant'.
Today, many people still readily call for war, regardless of the cost, not knowing that the most important principle of military strategy is to first calculate the odds of victory, and then the cost.
It is never beneficial to a country to be in a state of prolonged war.
Human weakness is
“Seeing only the benefits, not the harm”
“Therefore, those who cannot fully understand the harm of war cannot fully understand the benefits of war.”
——The Art of War, The Operations Chapter
If you don't know the harm of war, you cannot fully understand the benefits of war. This is the 'principle of seeking benefits and avoiding harm'.
Human weakness is to see only the benefits, not the harm. Seeing only the benefits has two aspects: one is the desire to win, and the other is the mentality of taking chances. Human nature is unwilling to yield, always wanting to overwhelm others. When one wants to overwhelm others, they do not see the harm, and they have a fluke mentality towards victory.
Human credulity, especially self-credulity, is boundless. As long as it meets their expectations, they will willingly believe it to be true.
Group decision-making can increase risk preference
Groups, more so than individuals, are more likely to have a strong desire to win and more easily initiate war. Why? Because within a group, those who clamor for war are patriots, while those who say war shouldn't be waged are traitors.
Thus, the voices of those clamoring for war grow louder, while those who believe war shouldn't be waged often remain silent, creating a situation of 'united in hatred of the enemy'.
There is a management psychology theory that 'group decision-making increases risk preference.' A typical example in today's society is business school classmates jointly investing, where no one seriously studies the risks. Manager Zhang thinks that since Manager Wang thinks it's feasible, it must be! Manager Wang thinks that since Manager Zhang is investing, I can certainly follow!
As a result, a bunch of people follow suit, and in the end, no one is responsible, and everyone loses everything.
