| Sun Tzu said: |
Commentary |
|
5. Maneuvering with an army is advantageous; with an undisciplined multitude,
most dangerous.
|
Moving quickly takes
a fit army that is ready to pick up and go far into hazardous
territory. Rapid movement often has little time for preparation or
scouting. To take on such challenges needs motivated and ready
troops.
In business, sometimes you have to move quickly to take advantage
of an opportunity or respond to competitive action. In such cases,
there is little time for planning, training and other preparation.
You must see the need and move quickly, and your people must be
ready also.
This is one reason why preparation and practice is so important:
there is no time on the day. |
| 6. If you set a fully equipped army in march in order to snatch an advantage,
the chances are that you will be too late. On the other hand, to detach a flying
column for the purpose involves the sacrifice of its baggage and stores. |
For speed of
response, units that must move quickly will have little time to
pack. To move quickly, they also will not be able to carry much with
them. A way of handling this is to have different units, some able
to move quickly with others arriving later as reinforcement. |
| 7. Thus, if you order your men to roll up their buff-coats, and make forced
marches without halting day or night, covering double the usual distance at a
stretch, doing a hundred LI in order to wrest an advantage, the leaders of all
your three divisions will fall into the hands of the enemy. |
Rapid maneuver seldom
has time for the cautious advance of normal warfare. It is hence
quite possible that your light and mobile force will meet one which
is stronger. The loss of troops is a price that must be considered.
However the gains from maneuvers may lead to many other lives being
saved through the shortening of the war and reduction in pitched
battles. |
| 8. The stronger men will be in front, the jaded ones will fall behind, and on
this plan only one-tenth of your army will reach its destination. |
When a group of
people are all hurrying, they will naturally spread out with the
faster going ahead and the slower falling behind. The same may be
true of military units. The result can be that when the front troops
reach the enemy position they are seeking, they will be few in
number. This means you cannot depend on all or, indeed, many of the
troops you dispatch on the mission to reach the final goal in force,
and so you must plan accordingly. |
| 9. If you march fifty LI in order to outmaneuver the enemy, you will lose the
leader of your first division, and only half your force will reach the goal. |
Travelling a long way
will result in loss both from spreading out of forces and
particularly those few at the front taking most damage as they
encounter enemy troops. |
| 10. If you march thirty LI with the same object, two-thirds of your army will
arrive. |
The shorter the
distance that troops march, the closer together they will be, the
less chance of ambush and less falling at the wayside from
exhaustion. In business if you work your people too much, you will
lose some who leave, others will fall sick from stress and over-work
and others will give up and work only in body but not in spirit. |
