Neil deGrasse Tyson has mastered the art of explaining complicated topics to a non-technical crowd. For that reason, I follow him and his speeches. He once explained String Theory on the RadioLab podcast by describing the movement of his fingers. I could not see him on a radio show but still followed the motions perfectly and have ever since recommended watching his videos to anyone who cannot talk to a crowd without an advanced understanding of Calculus. Then one day I read Dr. Tyson’s opinion of Sun Tzu’s Art of War. He recommends the book so that others can see how “the act of killing fellow humans can be raised to an art”, and I so disagree with this characterization of the book. The book may have one day been used for murdering fellow humans. I say “may have” as there are numerous legends surrounding Sun Tzu (For instance, that his strategies would defeat an army of a million with 100 men). However, I see the book as an art of life when everyday life included much more violence, than a war strategy book. Had Sun Tzu been a contemporary man, every single one of his sentences would have become a viral tweet. He has strategies that one could use in combat, but one could also see the book more broadly and apply it to face difficulties.
One personal example relates to when I was struggling with project management. I was learning all the different aspects of Environmental Consulting. I had the technical know-how, I had learned how to build a relationship, how and when to update the client, and many others, but when I was told to combine them all to manage projects, I was miserable. I was rebuked multiple times, mostly for the lack of attention to detail, and started thinking about changing my job. This all went on until one miserable night, I turned in my bed and picked up Sun Tzu’s Art of War. I did not have to go very far until I read the passage that after a few months of rumination changed my professional life:
The art of war, then, is governed by five constant factors, to be taken into account in one’s deliberations, when seeking to determine the conditions obtaining in the field.
These are: (1) The Moral Law; (2) Heaven; (3) Earth; (4) The Commander; (5) Method and discipline.
The Moral Law causes the people to be in complete accord with their ruler, so that they will follow him regardless of their lives, undismayed by any danger.
Heaven signifies night and day, cold and heat, times and seasons.
Earth comprises distances, great and small; danger and security; open ground and narrow passes; the chances of life and death.
The Commander stands for the virtues of wisdom, sincerely, benevolence, courage and strictness.By method and discipline are to be understood the marshaling of the army in its proper subdivisions, the graduations of rank among the officers, the maintenance of roads by which supplies may reach the army, and the control of military expenditure.These five heads should be familiar to every general: he who knows them will be victorious; he who knows them not will fail.
For every project after reading these passages, I thought about the five factors. Knowing where you are, what you are dealing with, which environment you are in, and what ranks of people are involved helped tremendously, and I was not fighting a war. I have more control over these factors today, some 12 years later, but they still apply in almost any situation. Sun Tzu did not write only about a bloody encounter, he wrote to bring together the principles of leadership. He lived over 2,000 years ago and so he was a military starategist more than a philosopher. – Those were the realities of his time. However, reading and applying his methods at face value would be a significant mistake. His sentences are worth a second read. This time, not as a military strategy, but as a philosophy to tackle the hardships of life.