Comments on Sun Tzu’s The Art of
War, edited by Dick Cooledge, Comptche Press, 1927.
Sun Tzu: “The rule is:
Don’t besiege walled cities if you can possibly avoid it.”
Raven: “Metaphor’s a beautiful part
of speech, but then so is simply stating the truth. If you like low hanging
fruit, just remember to avoid the rotten ones”
Poor Richard: “The merchant worth his salt knows the bottom line is that
there is a bottom line. Only the foolish do deals where they lose money. Better
to give it away for free.”
© Phyl Speser, February
4, 2013
Comments on Sun Tzu’s The Art of
War, edited by Dick Cooledge, Comptche Press, 1927.
Sun Tzu: “There is
always preparation but the preparation for sieges is consuming. Three months to
build fortifications, moveable shelters, and position the instruments of war.
Then three months more to dig tunnels and mounds up to the walls. And if the
general becomes frustrated and impatient, he will treat his men like ants whose
sole purpose is to swarm the walls. But that would be disastrous. One-third of
his men will be killed and the town will remain untaken. Therefore the skillful
general subdues the enemy without fighting; captures cities without laying
siege; and defeats the enemy without long deployments away from home. The skillful
general enables his force to remain intact and because not aman is lost, his
victory is all the more complete and renowned.”
Raven: “Doing a deal is the easy
part. Preparing adequately is not the easy part. It is preparing adequately
that makes doing the deal easy.”
Poor Richard: “In preparing for negotiations figure at most three months for
finding and understanding the other party. Then figure at most three months for
hooking them and figuring out if they really want what you have. By then you
should know what you could offer if you really want a deal. Of course, if you
offer what makes them smile and rub their hands together greedily, you won’t
get it. It’s a simple matter of percentages. Someone will usually give 5%.
Sometimes you can get 10%. A few times you can get it’s 20%. More rarely you
can get more. The skillful merchant figures out the customer’s buy point and
then he acts is like any other gambler who knows how to count cards.”
© Phyl Speser, February
5, 2013
Comments on Sun Tzu’s The Art of
War, edited by Dick Cooledge, Comptche Press, 1927.
Sun Tzu: “This then is
the rules for strategy. If your forces are 10 to 1, surround him;, if 5 to 1,
attack him; if 2 ti 1, divide and surprise him; if equally matched, harass and
contain him; and if inferior in strength, avoid the enemy. No matter how well
trained or clever or committed, sooner or later an inferior force will fall to
a superior one if the superior force is ruthless enough.”
Raven: “There is a Chinese martial
art called Tai Chi. Those who master it learn to move their energies and those of
others. Moving energy is a matter of balance, of positioning and moving your
body in harmony with another’s – even if that other is your opponent.
Positioning is accomplished by finding your center and then placing your feet
and hands to ensure stability. Moving is a matter of watching trajectories and
calculating intersections, so making slight move which does not jeopardize your
stability allows your opponent to jeopardize their stability. This is true for
both offensive and defensive postures. Once the opponent is off balance, it is
easier to move them where you want them. ”
Poor Richard: “Once a competent merchant has done the basic calculations,
they know if and where a deal should happen. Now it is simply a matter of
making it happen. There are two levers. One is money. You give it or they give
it up once you are in the acceptable range for a deal. The other is market
positioning and traction. We can measure the first by looking at their patents,
R&D awards, publications, and the like. We can measure the latter by
looking at stock option prices. Everyone plays with money. They forget traction
has value too. In uncertain times like ours, that’s a leverage point. What the
IP merchant sells is property rights in technology. Usually owning such property
rights is a good thing. Right? Right. Rights give us freedom to act … options. That’s
the leverage point. Companies can limber along. They have trajectories …
momentum. Show them how to build it together. Then there is something to share
when it comes time to bring the cash out.”
© Phyl Speser, February
5, 2013
Comments on Sun Tzu’s The Art of
War, edited by Dick Cooledge, Comptche Press, 1927.
Sun Tzu: “Consider
this. A successful general is the bulwark of his country; when he is in
harmony with both the rulers and the people, his mission is complete. What is
said? “The strength of the country resides in the strength of the ruler.”
Raven: “My sister says natural is
brutal and that explains a lot. Yet she still has hope. In our country the ruler is us.”
Poor Richard: “Harmony makes a deal
self-enforcing. That’s worth a lot. It’s self-enforcing for the party that
holds the IP rights if anything ‘breaks’ – possession being (as I have seen written
elsewhere) 9/10ths of the law. Let them have to sue you. Now they have to
commit to spend real money on lawyers. They have to do it first. Let them think
about that. Plaintiffs carry the burden of proof. Nasty
stuff, presumptions.”
© Phyl Speser, February
6, 2013
Comments on Sun Tzu’s The Art of
War, edited by Dick Cooledge, Comptche Press, 1927.
Sun Tzu: “My favorite:
The three ways that rulers screw things up. First they tell you to do things no
rational man would do, let alone die for. Second, they treat my soldiers like
they were just another one of their subjects. These are their subjects, but
they are also my men. I am the one who leads them into battle. Third, they use their
power to place their favorites among the officer ranks. In my army, I prefer my
officers know something about their work and have experienced battle honorably.
When the army is disgruntled and confused, it cannot fight honorably so of
course it cannot win. Weapons and strategy help, but brains, brawn, and heart
win battles.”
Raven: “There is always someone a
bit out of alignment with the goal here. Usually they are billing by the hour.
Oh, wait. I bill by the hour.”
Poor Richard: “There are always
objections and reasons why things cannot be done. Get over it. Either they want
to do a deal and are frumpled and knufled too or they are looking for an
excuste to walk away. It’s usually pretty clear. Trust your instincts, but also
confirm them by politically asking if they would be interested in your take on
how to remove these obstacles to a deal. Knowhow helps, but it’s mostly just
using common sense. They just need help seeing the solution path.”
© Phyl Speser, February
7, 2013