Today’s (Business) Lesson from Sun Tzu is:

Always be prepared, for the unprepared never prosper.

When times are bad, be alert and prepared always. When times are good, be alert and prepared always. I must not get lax when I think things are good or safe. I must always be preparing for the next attack against the competing business(es).

You can never win when you are ready. You can only win when your opponent is not ready. You must prepare continuously and wait for the right timing.

“Direction is like a tauntingly drawn arrow & timing is like the releasing of that arrow.”

Do not think you will be wasting your time and efforts on something that has not succeeded in the past: “There are no more than five tones, yet five tones excel in variations, more than can ever be heard. There are no more than five colors, yet five colors excel in variations, more than can ever be seen. There are no more than five flavors, yet five flavors excel in variations, more than can ever by tasted…. In directing conflict, there are no more than the surprise and the straight forward. Yet the surprise and the straight forward excel in variations, more than can ever be exhausted. The surprise and the straight forward give rise to each other so they cycle and rotate without end so that no one can exhaust them.”

Those who enter the war ground early are aligned and ready. Those who enter the war ground late are scrambled.

“Those who take the initiative will not be taken advantage of. Those who do no take the initiative will meet defeat.”