Thread by @ThyConsigliori

John Minford, #SunTzu 5: 1 "Master Sun said: managing many is the same as managing few; it is a question of division."

While so many of Master Sun's sayings have become deeply embedded within my mind and heart, this one, and the next to come, hold a very special place for me. A strange epiphany struck over it and no one was more surprised than me when it happened.

I was 33 and the year was 1994. I'm pretty sure that, after my 1987 reading of the Giles translation, I hadn't studied Master Sun again until I purchased Sawyer's translation in 1993. Other than Gordon Gecko's recommendation, I didn't know why I was reading it, either.

I had been an independent consultant for almost 6 years, yes, I started when I was 27. I'd just gotten started with a very high-profile client, with a large office of extraordinary performers. It was the number one operation in its space. My client's growth had peaked, though.

It was my task to figure out why, and to build an answer to restore growth. It was verses 5: 1 & 2 that gave me the answer. My client, Larry, was a very hands on leader with deeply bonded relationships to each of his people. He was deeply involved in every transaction also.

I am not a trained manager and was never a corporate employee. But, in my few years as a coach I found that the management literature, especially Peter Drucker's work, was fundamental and I studied assiduously. I also knew how to research the literature, at least adequately.

There is a management term for Larry's problem. Span of control. A dedicated, virtuoso salesman and manager himself, a perfectionist with the chops to be worthy of the name, Larry's day was 100% full, and had been for years when we met. He had no further time to give.

I'd blundered into the term in readings, previously, but as none of my clients had ever presented with that problem, the term had no meaning to me. That is, until I read today's and tomorrow's verses. And then it struck like a lightning bolt. Larry had a problem of division.

I don't know how I found it back then, but there is, in Sawyer's translation, a verse so beautiful it still moves me to this day. It ties to today's verse so powerfully I have to share it now. It’s from chapter 11.

"Thus one who excels at employing the army leads them by the hand as if they were only one man, so they cannot avoid it."

Please ponder that deeply, and re-read today's verse with that beautiful description in mind, deepening your understanding.

The answer was that Larry was leading each person by hand, but was not able to reach through or past the limit of his time. He had divided the shop up into teams, but Larry was not leading the team leaders by the hand to serve others, everyone just went to Larry for everything.

With these verses, and a few others, I wrote up a summary of my analysis for Larry, and he found the passages from Master Sun profoundly moving, and felt a type of release, a load lifting. What we did was immediately begin focusing on the team leaders and truly empowering them.

Not only did we build team metrics and accountability, the toughest job was forcing Larry to let the team leaders first study his own methods and then, with standards vastly below his stringent perfectionism, allow them to begin to lead others even when Larry wasn't present.

We found that the team leaders benefited greatly from Master Sun's guidance, as did Larry. In my own work with the team leaders, it was the passage about leading the army as if leading one man by the hand, so that they cannot avoid it, that seemed most impactful.

Let's apply this to the MAGA Teams Initiative. Let's say you feel the urge to find out if you can lead others. The first step is to find a person who will join you. And the first negotiation to complete is that over leadership and followership. Who is leader? Who is follower?

This is far easier than you can imagine. Offer to be the follower. Leadership always comes with tons of responsibility and heart ache. Talk about this. It takes tremendous motivation to lead. If your friend has the motivation, you can be of extraordinary value by following.

The ultimate definition of the small team leader's function is in recruiting. The leader establishes mission, values, specific goals and deadlines, standards of performance, courtesy in the team, and removing and replacing team members too. But nothing happens without recruiting.

By recruiting, I mean recruiting followers, not fellow leaders. That's why when two people get started, the negotiation over who is leader, who follower is so critical. We need 8 times the number of followers as we need leaders. We need leaders to recruit and lead them.

Master Sun will teach us what leadership is, and how it behaves, how it wins, again and again. We have all the time we need. But, the vision of leading one man by the hand to victory, so he cannot avoid it, and of doing so with a group the same way is fundamental.

The difference for us is that, unlike a general given charge over an army, where the problem is division, we're starting from scratch with nothing. So, our problem is addition. Can 1 + 1 = 2? Can we add 1 more so that 2 + 1 = 3?

Yet instantly, division reasserts. Who will lead, who will follow? If you're the leader, can you lead one other person to victory so he cannot avoid it? Can you recruit? Can you lead two followers to victory so they cannot avoid it? Can you lead? Or, can you be a proud follower?

Last point for today. Begin focusing on a mission that matters to you. View it as a war, and that you're going to need to find others to lead or find a leader to follow. But the mission is where all the energy comes from. We have all the time we need for everything else. Honest.

To return to previous sections in our #WarForAmerica2020 and #SunTzuForMAGA series, don't forget to head over to @WarForAmerica21.

89 verses completed, 333 to go. And also, be sure to purchase John Minford's translation, here:

amazon.com/Art-War-Pengui…

The local MAGA leader’s library needs three other books. The first is by my great friend, hero, and today’s greatest constitutional scholar, @shestokas. His most important work so far is:

amazon.com/Creating-Decla…

The second is available free. It is the combined Declaration of Independence and Constitution.

uscis.gov/sites/default/…

Last is my own book. I'll give you the link here, and then conclude with its ten MAGA principles:

amazon.com/America-First-…

1. Remember The Forgotten Americans
2. Rule Of Law
3. American Jobs
4. Quality Of Life For Every American
5. Heal Our Cities
6. Build The Wall
7. Make America Wealthy Again
8. Make America Strong Again
9. Make America Safe Again
10. Make America Great Again