Out of the Crisis.Org

[Louis Altazan]

In Dave’s recent post, the parallel between business and sports is used. I think this is a good example and makes the point quite well. There are also differences in sports and business that I think are equally important. For instance, in sports there are rules, designed to make the goal more difficult. Rules make the game more interesting and perhaps gives each team a more equal opportunity. In this respect, business is largely unlike sports.

From the standpoint of gaining advantage, business is also somewhat like fighting a war. Clearly it cannot be likened in magnitude nor consequences, but there are principles that I feel can be applied. The competition may not be our enemy at all, but by nature they do compete for many of the same things we do.

Like sports, the competition is not trying to kill you, but they are trying to gain a competitive advantage. Unlike sports, there are few rules that might prevent them from doing so. For instance one “team” [business] might bring three players and another thirty. One business [combatant?] may have a budget of $X while the other has a budget of $100X. Still both compete, hopefully on their own strengths. There are also no rules as far as scoring or the number of ways a business may score. This is left to each business to decide, and new ways are contrived all of the time.

Thousands of years ago there was a Chinese General known as Sun Tzu. In the book, “The art of war,” many of his tactics are depicted and many are very relevant to business today. If we interchange the words “enemy” and competition, a great deal about tactics can be learned.

One of my favorite passages from the book is as follows”

“The art of war teaches us to rely not on the likelihood of the enemy's not coming, but on our own readiness to receive him; not on the chance of his not attacking, but rather on the fact that we have made our position unassailable.”

Please share any thoughts on how this might apply to business?

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Louis Altazan
Owner/Manager AGCO Automotive Corporation
Baton Rouge, LA