Monday, February 11, 2008

War Fighting and Business


Cold weather continues. Minus 18 C (0 F) and windy. Front entrance to SYNNEX Guelph facility on the right.
I recently read a publication called, War Fighting that I believe was published by the US Marines. It was recommended to me by a friend (that is from where I get most of my reading material).

At first I didn’t think I would be very interested in the publication since I am not involved in war or training for war; however, as I read it I saw many parallels between war and business (and I know there have been many books written on this topic). I also hate war so have a poor reaction to war stuff. However summarizing the business lessons from War Fighting:

One commonality is that we both deal with a great deal of uncertainty partly because we are dealing with the human factor. We also deal with changing environments. This means that all plans need to be modified depending on what happens in the market which constantly changes.

It also talks about tempo and clearly the tempo in business increases and decreases depending on the time.

Business has to do with a choice of where to put limited resources.

Business also deals with a high degree of complexity and I think even to a certain extent, there is fear in business (although it might not be fear for one’s life; it is fear for one’s livelyhood, standard of living, respect, etc.) Of course there is strategy in business that needs to be augmented with tactics and science.

A large part of business does have to do with doing the unexpected, combined with speed and being highly opportunistic. Business planning is also required.

In the end we are all looking for people that get things done.
When we start the day, its all about possibilities, at the end of the day, its all about results.
Unrelated, I really liked Nathan Collier's post on debt/frugality and how it ties to success.


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