Gregory Beyer — Why Business Leaders Are Obsessed With Sun Tzu's Ancient Military Guide, "The Art of War"

Is business competition well-modeled on warfare? Apparently a lot of leaders think so.

Rick Wartzman, executive director of The Drucker Institute, wrote last year in Forbes, “Ask businesspeople to peg the writer whose thinking is most clearly reflected in both military and corporate circles, and odds are that you’ll hear the name Sun Tzu.” CEO.com includes the book on its list of Leadership Books To Read Before You Die.
For business leaders, reading The Art of War is a rite of passage; quoting from it is de rigueur. The publishing industry routinely markets the book as a military/business text, with blurbs from CEOs and testimonials from trade publications. Sun Tzu’s principles have been applied to every conceivable agenda....

Game theory, too.

Does anyone else find it odd that business leaders routinely structure the game as zero-sum and not win-win? And therefore often adopt the principle of "doing whatever it takes," i.e., "the end justifies the means"aka "nice guys finish last."

The Huffington Post
Why Business Leaders Are Obsessed With Sun Tzu's Ancient Military Guide, "The Art of War"
Gregory Beyer