Sun Tsu Art of War

1.) Building an organization with capabilities, people, and structure needed to execute the strategy successfully. - The North Vietnamese general devotes an entire chapter on spies. Every barman, taxi driver, prostitute, or whoever interacted with an American was potentially a source of information. The man who ran the taxi stand outside the US headquarters is supposedly the chief of Viet Cong intelligence. - Eisenhower had four generals under him, handling different branches; the Navy, the Air force, the US Army, and the British Army. Hitler had a chaotic command structure (the roles of one overlapping another person's) and would always interfere in the position of his subordinates. 2.) Adopting process management programs that drive continuous improvement in strategy execution activities - The Allies were able to gain foreknowledge by breaking down the German code and hiring a Polish to develop a new system. They then developed the Ultra Coding System which enabled them to “read the minds” of the Germans. - In the war against the Vietnamese, the Americans operated in a predictable way. They would prepare a landing zone through artillery or air strikes then bring the troops in. Lack of improving the strategy of the Americans caused them a lot of casualties after the Vietnamese figured them out. 3.) Installing information and operating systems that enable company personnel to carry out their strategic roles proficiently - Sun Tsu killed the concubines when they would not take his orders seriously and would just laugh. If the orders are not clear and commands not explicit, it is the fault of the general but if the orders are clear, it is the fault of the subordinate. The concubines soon became more serious and followed Sun Tsu. - Brutality caused a lot of Vietnamese to back out and lose their will. The small units were left without reinforcements and had no means of communicating with each other. During the TET war, the US won and