My interpretation of learning from book " Art of War - sun tzu"

Dear friends,

As most of us are losing our habit of constantly reading books, journals in times of digital & social media invasion and an era of online streaming of movies, we all are getting too engrossed in technology which is hampering all of us to grow as human beings who were by DNA once programmed to be enterprising, innovative & hard working.

My current blog is dedicated to those who have lost their habit of reading books and it is my effort to summarize some of my learnings /key notes from famous books that I have come across. (let me be honest that I am trying to come out of social media addiction myself…)

(Disclaimer: my learnings /keynotes from particular book is completely my opinion and may differ from individual to individual).

Recently I was gifted a wonderful book called “Art of war-sun tzu”. Below are some of my key take outs which could be correlated to corporate world.

       a)  All wars consume 3 main resources i.e. Time, Money & Energy.

In corporate world we compete with our services/ products on daily basis and try to win mind space/ market share from our competitors; Professionals invest their time, money and energy in order to win consumers & sell their goods/services.

Brands should know when to communicate (timing), what to communicate (message) and how to communicate (media planning) and monitor its end result (call to action through market research).

b) Ignore choleric comments:

Sometimes competition passes comments or runs campaigns in order to irritate you or their targeted brands. (for example: Coke’s campaign in India in 1990’s official sponsor of world cup cricket vs Pepsi’s response – Nothing official about it).

                   

Always remember, ‘Wars are won by people who control their emotions’. Don’t allow your emotional quotient to overtake rational or logical behavior.

 c) Know yourself first and Opponent second.

We need to first completely understand our strengths, weaknesses prior to even enticing or acknowledging competition.

We all have seen a famous Bollywood blockbuster “ Dangal” wherein the key protagonist Aamer khan first studies weakness of his daughter and train her to overcome them prior to even attempting to compete with other wrestlers. Knowing yourself is most important.

Understand your weaknesses and overcome them to make it your strengths.

                       

d) Prepare beforehand to take your competition unprepared.

Winners prepare themselves before hand to face tough situations.

We all have heard story of Ant & grasshopper in our childhood days wherein Ant works throughout year to collect food for winter season vis a vis Grasshopper who is flamboyant and doesn’t sustain itself when weather changes.

We all brand managers, retail professionals should ensure that we work like an Ant i.e. taking care of our brand strategies in terms of its market share, inventory planning, marketing, customer service and implement continuous improvement drive in whatever we do in our professional lives.

I hope sharing of some learning will help in some way or other to my friends, upcoming entrepreneurs, budding brand managers to develop their brands in better & more successful way.

Cheers

Ritesh

#nevergiveup #believeinyourself.