Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War' and Implications for Leadership: Theoretical Discussion

摘要

We present a study of the Art of War from a leadership perspective, one in which we make a closer connection to the context of general organization and management. The Art of War written by Sun Tzu is one of those books that could be classified in the genre of pop-culture. Although its content used to be considered as a carefully protected state secret in the past, it is now available to everyone. Its use has in the past century of moved from warfare also to other areas of human activity. Strategic advices that it contains can be used in many more areas than just the conduct in the times of war. In fact, the success in wars, as well as in business, of course, depends on leadership, which is why we identify the positive and negative attributes of a leader in relation to strategic leadership. People are those who fight in battles and are also those who win them; and the most important person in every battle is the general. Historically, a number of successful military commanders ascribe the credit for their victories to Sun Tzu's principles. In addition, this wisdom is now being examined and used by senior executives from all around the world, especially in Asia, because it can be utilized in many business and political situations. The Chinese classic "The Art of War" is still considered as one of the most influential and important works on strategy, why a discussion on theoretical and practical implications of Sun Tzu's strategic leadership theory in a global environment is also included.%V članku je predstavljen voditeljski vidik Umetnosti vojne, ki to kitajsko klasiko umešča v kontekst splošnega managementa in organizacije. Sun Cujeva Umetnost vojne je ena tistih knjig, ki jih lahko uvrstimo v žanr pop kulture. Čeprav je bila njena vsebina v preteklosti skrbno varovana kot državna skrivnost, pa je danes dostopna širšim množicam. V preteklem stoletju se je njena uporaba iz vojskovanja prenesla tudi še na ostala področja človeškega delovanja. Strateški nasveti, ki jih vsebuje, so namreč uporabni ne le za vojskovanje, pač pa tudi v mnogih drugih primerih. Tako v vojni, kot tudi v poslu, je uspeh seveda odvisen od vodenja, zato so v članku identificirane pozitivne in negativne lastnosti vodje v povezavi s strateškim vodenjem. Ljudje so tisti, ki bijejo in zmagujejo bitke; najpomembnejša oseba vsake bitke pa je gotovo general. Medtem ko je množica uspešnih vojskovodij v preteklosti zasluge za svoje zmage pripisovala sledenju Sun Cujevim načelom, pa danes te modrosti preučujejo in uporabljajo vodstveni delavci širom sveta, še posebej v Aziji. Zaradi široke uporabe the načel v mnogih poslovnih in političnih situacijah je Umetnost vojne še vedno smatrana kot ena najvplivnejših in najpomembnejših del na temo strategije. V članku sta zato predstavljena teoretični ter praktični pomen teorije Sun Cujevega strateškega vodenja v globalnem okolju.