Sun Tzu on Timing and Emotional Detachment

Number one of Sun Tzu’s ‘‘five occasions when victory can be foretold’’ is:

When the general knows the time to fight and when not to fight

The wise leader is able to see the whole of a situation and read the way things are moving. This provides the genius of timing. The opposite of this is to cling on to particular course of action regardless of conditions.

This is the hallmark of an ideologue. On the battlefield it is a terrible approach. The Art of War warns never to act according to beliefs or dogma but in light of the information flowing in a particular moment.

Moreover, we must always challenge conventional wisdom in order to arrive at the truth of a situation.

General Norman Schwarzkopf, considered one of the best generals in modern times and vital to the successful defeat of Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait, was a fan of Sun Tzu.

Schwarzkopf was not a rigid ideologue, but strategized according to opportunity and conditions. In contrast, the failure of America’s second war with Iraq was put down to a disastrous combination of blind idealism and poor knowledge of the insurgency.

To the extent that US forces employed ‘shock and awe’ at the start of battle, they followed Sun Tzu’s teachings. But as Sun Tzu points out, brute force alone may not be enough.

To be wily, to surprise and deceive, yet to act in a detached way and without arrogance, are all qualities crucial to victory.

Regarding detachment, Sun Tzu observes: “War should not be undertaken because the lord is in a moment of passion. The general must not fight because there is anger in his heart.”

The passions may change, but “a country, once overturned, cannot be restored; the dead cannot be brought to life.”